Timeless Affections
by Guineapigs1
Summary: On Ren and Kyoko's wedding night a spell is cast that takes both Ren and Sho back in time two years, but there's a catch. Kyoko doesn't remember either of them. Now they both stand a chance at winning the heart of Love Me girl #1. Who will come out victorious?
1. 1-The Beginning

**Hey readers! I'm super excited to start this story, and I hope you will stay along with me for the journey. When this idea popped into my head, I almost squealed like Yashiro at how the story was immediately able to fall into place in my head. I had this idea a day before finishing _Their Tangled Fates,_ and I wanted to finish that story to get started on this one as soon as possible! I literally started writing it right after I published the final chapter for _Their Tangled Fates_. I haven't read a Skip Beat! fanfic that had this storyline, so I'm really excited to write! I hope you enjoy this first chapter as a little teaser into the rest of the story!**

 **I don't own Skip Beat!**

 **...**

It was finally the wedding day of two of Japan's most famous actors! All of Japan was happy for the couple, but there was one person who moped in his bedroom. Fuwa Sho still couldn't believe that he had lost Kyoko to that pretty boy actor. She was supposed to have no room in her heart for anyone except him! He owned her!

When he had cornered her that day after her engagement to Ren was publicly announced, he had demanded that she keep up her end of their bet and go back to Kyoto since she had fallen in love with Ren, hoping to get a rise out of her. But she had just calmly stated she didn't need to listen to him anymore since he had no control over her actions anymore, and that she would never work back in Kyoto. She had gracefully walked away from the conversation. He tried to grab her arm, but had been held back from grabbing her by an invisible force. That day, he had fumed in anger and couldn't work.

All Japanese news networks were trying to cover the exclusive event, and Sho wanted to throw his remote at his TV. They were holding their wedding at a traditional Shinto shrine since Kyoko had always dreamed of having a traditional Japanese wedding. "I wish she would just give me a second chance!" Sho yelled out at no one in particular. He grabbed his blonde hair with his fists. If only he could go back in time and tell Kyoko just how much he needed her to be with him.

…

After their wedding, Ren and Kyoko had gone to start their honeymoon. Ren was the happiest man on earth at having finally married his beautiful wife. They had gone to a five star hotel in Paris where Kyoko was currently sleeping happily in Ren's arms on their bed. Having Kyoko love him back was the best thing he could ever ask for, and he wanted to stay like this forever. As he fell asleep however, he had no idea what was in store for him.

Sho had also finally fallen asleep after his energy being zapped from his previous temper tantrum, and a fairy finally came out of its hiding spot under his bed. The fairy had heard of Sho and how he needed a fairy's help. The fairy had heard Sho's wish, and she cast a magic spell with a flick of her wand thinking that this was the perfect way to help him.

…

When Sho woke up, he realized he was in Shoko's bed and not in his room where he had fallen asleep the night before. He couldn't remember coming to Shoko's place, but he shrugged it off since it had happened before. As he got up to go to the bathroom, a fuming Shoko entered the room.

"Have you been sleeping until now?! We have to be at the recording studio in 20 minutes to record your new album!" Shoko yelled at him.

Sho scratched his head groggily. He had just released his new album a few days prior. What was she talking about?

"I just released a new album though."

"What are you talking about? A new album? You haven't even released _Angelic Virtues_ yet!"

Sho froze. _Angelic Virtues_ was an album he released two years ago in the fall.

"Now come on!" Shoko said to Sho while leaving the room for Sho to change. Sho was left with no choice but to put on a maroon sweater with some khaki pants, grabbed his leather jacket, and followed Shoko to the studio.

…

As Ren woke up on the other side of Tokyo, he felt that something was wrong. He opened his eyes and realized that Kyoko was no longer in his arms. He thought she had probably gotten up already to make breakfast and was about to get out of bed himself until he realized the silk sheets of his own bed. He looked around the room for the first time that morning and realized he was back in his Tokyo apartment. He looked wide-eyed at everything around him until his phone rang. Picking it up, he saw that Yashiro was calling him. At his wedding the day before, Yashiro had been his best man who squealed when Kyoko and him were finally married. When Ren had offered him the role of best man, he had almost cried from happiness when Ren told him that he considered him his best friend. "Moshi moshi," Ren answered the phone.

"Ren! Where are you? You have an interview at 9! I'm outside your apartment!"

Ren got up from his bed and walked over to his front door. He opened it to reveal his manager holding his phone in a gloved hand.

"What?! Why are you still not dressed?" Yashiro jumped back.

"Yukihito. Where's Kyoko?" Ren asked. Yashiro was surprised that Ren had called him by first name. He usually addressed him as Yashiro-san. They weren't explicitly friends yet.

"Kyoko? Why are you talking about her? We have to be at LME! Get ready!" Yashiro said wondering why Ren was suddenly interested in the rising actress.

Ren was confused. He had gotten two weeks off of work for his honeymoon. Like Sho, he decided he would go along with his manager for the day and see what was happening. After he changed from his silk pajamas to a white button up shirt over black slacks and grabbed his coat, he was out the door hoping that he would soon see his wife and ask her what was going on.

…

Ren felt a sense of deja vu during his interview. It was like he had already given the exact same interview before. When walking through the LME lobby after his interview, he saw a glimpse of pink. He looked to where the blur of pink had gone and saw a mess of auburn hair atop a woman with her back towards him standing next to Kotonami Kanae in the same pink uniform. When the auburn haired girl turned around, Ren's heart skipped a beat at the smile on her face. She looked beautiful just like any other time he saw her. Before he knew it, he was gravitating towards her. He stood in front of her with a loving look in his eyes.

"Kyoko…" Ren said under his breath. He didn't notice the glare coming from Kanae towards him.

"Why are we back in Tokyo? And why are you back in your Love Me uniform?" Ren asked his wife.

"Eh?" Kyoko looked at him, surprised that he was talking to her.

"Why do you need to talk to Kyoko?" Kanae glared at Ren again.

"Why wouldn't I talk to her? She's my wife," Ren answered immediately.

Both Kyoko and Kanae's mouths gaped open.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Kyoko asked.

...

 **Short chapter I know, but this is just a teaser chapter so I wanted to leave it on this certain cliffhanger :P. I hope you like my idea for this story, and if you want to read more then follow this story! If you could, please don't hesitate to leave me a review. I'm really excited to write this story, and I really want to know if you guys are just as excited to read it. Thanks :D**

 _ **BACKGROUND INFO:**_

 _ **Sho's outfit is exactly the one he wears for the video game if you wanted a visual. I didn't include exactly what year they went back to since it doesn't state when the manga actually takes place, but assume that it is at least a year after Momiji since Kyoko is pretty famous at this point and is probably in the top 10 actresses of Japan. She is still in the Love Me section though since she hasn't accepted love yet. Ren and Sho are at the top of the entertainment industry.**_


	2. 2-A Shocking Discovery

**Hope you're as excited for this chapter as I am! I felt closer to Ren while I was writing this since I was eating an onigiri.**

 **...**

Ren's heart sank. His wife didn't remember him. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a bad dream.

"Oh wait! I know who you are! You're Tsuruga Ren! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you from any of your projects! It's different to see you in person! It's a real honor to meet you, Tsuruga-san!" Kyoko bowed.

"Do you not remember me, Kyoko?" Ren asked with a hurt look in his eyes.

"Eh? Have I met you before?" Kyoko asked.

Ren sighed dejectedly. "We've worked together on many things. I met you when you first auditioned to join LME for revenge on Fuwa Sho. We worked on Dark Moon together, the Heel siblings, and we eventually got married."

"Why would I want revenge on Fuwa Sho? I've never met him! I joined LME for revenge on Reino! Are you feeling okay? You're saying some pretty weird things…" Kyoko tapped her finger to her chin. "I know some of the projects you're talking about, but I don't remember seeing you in them at all…"

"Who was Katsuki in Dark Moon?" Ren asked.

"It was Murasame Taira," Kyoko said almost automatically.

"What about BJ?"

"Hidehito Kijima."

Ren felt his whole world crashing down. She didn't remember him. She wasn't his wife anymore.

"What projects are you working on right now?" Ren asked hoping to figure out exactly what was going on.

"I'm working on the third season of _Box R_ and _Everlasting Youth_. Why?"

If Ren remembered correctly, Kyoko had filmed _Everlasting Youth_ and _Box R_ two years ago! Had he travelled back in time or something? But if he really had, she would remember him!

"No reason. It's been a pleasure to talk to you, Mogami-san," Ren smiled his gentlemanly smile to hide his true feelings.

"Y-you too!" Kyoko replied, feeling chills go down her spine at the smile he was giving her. It seemed fake for some reason.

Ren walked away from her with his outward appearance appearing composed, but inside he was a mess. Everything that he had done with Kyoko had been erased. She was the first to accept his true identity. She supported him enough that he had been planning to reveal his real name to all of Japan after their honeymoon. He would have finally been able to become his parents' child again.

His parents. Had Kyoko still met Kuu when he came to Japan? He needed to find out. He needed to talk to them. And the only way he could was by visiting Lory.

…

After Sho finished recording his new album, he ended up at TBM studios for an interview about his newest album getting released. He had learnt that he had travelled back in time two years, but he wasn't sure why. As he turned the corner with his manager, he spotted Kyoko. A realization came to him! She wasn't married to Ren yet! He still had a chance! Maybe his wish had come true?

Sho strutted over to Kyoko right before she entered her dressing room and grabbed her arm. He didn't catch the shocked look of his manager behind him, but did catch the look of confusion from Kyoko.

"How did a plain girl like you become famous enough to be at this studio?" Sho smirked.

Those words struck close to home for Kyoko. They reminded her of Reino. He had said that she was too plain and boring for him that day he threw her away. She seethed with anger at the memory.

"Are you trying to mock me? Who are you to have the right to say that to me?" Kyoko gritted her teeth.

"I own you. You belong to me, Kyoko," Sho cockily stated.

Shoko's jaw almost touched the ground. What was her charge talking about?

Suddenly Kyoko's dark aura dissipated as she came to a realization of her own.

"Wait! Are you Fuwa Sho?" Kyoko asked.

Sho was taken aback. Why would she have to ask that question? "Of course! Do you not remember me?"

"Ah! I know! You're trying to act like Reino! I knew one of you stole their style from the other!"

Sho froze. What was wrong with her memory?

"What? That beagle stole my songs! Not the other way around! That's not the point though. You're going to come with me to eat together," Sho pulled her arm to leave.

"What do you mean? I have a job to do! I don't want to eat with you right now! I hadn't even met you before today!" Kyoko pulled her arm out of his grasp.

Sho froze. If she didn't remember him, then that meant he hadn't hurt her! His wish had indeed come true! He had a second chance! He just had to beat that platform-wearing actor and quick!

"Then we'll eat together another day," Sho smirked before walking back in the direction he came from with his manager trailing behind him. Kyoko cocked her head to the side. First she had met Tsuruga Ren and now Fuwa Sho. They had both acted really strange. She shrugged. Maybe everyone at the top of the entertainment industry was eccentric. She entered her dressing room, ready to play Bo again.

Sho would get an earful from his manager about how rude he had just been, but he didn't care. He had a chance to get Kyoko back. And this time he was going to beat that pinhead actor this time.

…

After Kyoko finished her job as Bo, she biked home with her head bowed down in shame. She had politely declined a ride from her manager since she had a date that night. Kyoko lied that she had a ride to let her go on her date without worrying about her charge. Ever since the first episode of Yappa Kimagure Rock where she had tried to get revenge on Reino, it seemed like any wrongdoings she did couldn't be forgiven. She had accidentally talked to the guest while picking them up. But that was because it was Kanae as the guest who knew who she was under the suit! Still, she had gotten yelled at and got a warning that one more misdemeanor could result in her being fired. She had felt like crying at how harshly she had been treated, but she didn't want to inconvenience anyone with her crying. When she finally got to her room in the Darumaya, she could let all of her pent-up emotions out.

After she finished crying, she opened the drawer of her desk and took out a small purse containing her most precious treasure. Corn. As she held the stone in her hand, she let it absorb all of her sad feelings. Then she held it up to the light and watched as it switched from that dark blue color to an amber color. She smiled. Corn could always help her. Maybe soon she would be able to meet Corn again. She unconsciously touched her lips where Corn had kissed her that time in Guam. Her first kiss had been given to her by her fairy prince. Corn.

...

 _ **Now to answer some questions from reviewers. These are answers to Guest's questions:**_

-I hope this chapter clarified more of the extent of how much Kyoko doesn't remember. As you read, Kyoko has only forgotten ever knowing Tsuruga Ren and Fuwa Sho, not Corn. Ren never met her and never told her he was Corn. She remembers the Guam incident from when Ren was filming something other than Tragic Marker in Guam. But Ren doesn't know that Kyoko still remembers Corn yet.

-Since their wedding was televised and Ren was going to reveal his identity after their honeymoon, that's why he married her as Ren publicly. Mostly to not shock Japan too much in one day lol. If you really want to know though, he told Kyoko who he was before dating her, and they signed their marriage license as Kuon and Kyoko Hizuri.

-Kyoko knew she worked in the same company as Tsuruga Ren, she just didn't expect him to ever talk to her and was shocked when he did. She heard of him in passing and saw some movie posters of him, but she couldn't connect those to Ren at that moment since she was so shocked at seeing him in person. In the beginning of this chapter I clarified that she knew who he was after a pause, but mostly I put her asking who he was last chapter instead of her asking why he was talking to her to make it more of a shocking cliffhanger :P

-As you found out with Dark Moon and Tragic Marker, Ren was replaced by other actors in any projects he worked with Kyoko in. Therefore, he never met her until this moment according to Kyoko's memory. Same will go for the Prisoner PV which was actually another artist's PV and not Sho's.

-The spell was designed to go back to a state where Sho had another chance to gain Kyoko's affection. That would mean that Ren would have to be out of the picture as well. The fairy didn't want to just make it so he never existed, so she made it so that he was erased from any interactions with Kyoko, but gave him the chance to also win Kyoko's affection back. As for why exactly she granted the wish, you'll see next chapter ;)

 **You were absolutely correct that this story won't follow canon, but I hope to make it have many events that are canon as possible even if they don't happen the exact same way. Thank you so much for your review! It helped me to tie up some of the loose ends from the first chapter about how this fanfic was going to progress from here. I hope this clarifies some of the specifics of the wish, and if you have any more questions I would be happy to answer them!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	3. 3-The Path to Kyoko's Heart

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews you left on the first two chapters! I'm really excited to continue writing more chapters of this story! Please enjoy!**

 **...**

The fairy who had cast the spell had left only three people out of it who retained their memories. Fuwa Sho, Tsuruga Ren, and Takarada Lory.

"What kind of spell did you cast this time, Mina-chan?" Lory asked her when she flew into his office and landed on his desk.

"You told me to help Fuwa Sho, so I granted his wish of having a second chance with Mogami Kyoko," the fairy named Mina responded. Lory's face turned a ghastly white. "Don't tell me you forced her into a relationship with Fuwa? She had finally gotten married to Ren!"

"Of course not! Fuwa Sho and Tsuruga Ren both have an equal chance to make her fall for them now! Mogami Kyoko has forgotten any relationships she had with the two. We have also travelled back in time to two years ago," Mina assured him. Lory breathed a sigh of relief.

"I know I told you to help Fuwa-san, but this wasn't exactly what I meant… Maybe it'll end well anyways though," Lory stroked his mustache, deep in thought before his thoughts were interrupted.

"Sir!" Ren knocked on the door. Lory motioned for Mina to hide under his desk, and she was hidden right before Ren barged in.

"Ren? Why have you visited me today unannounced?" Lory asked. He knew that Ren was probably angry with the spell, but he couldn't reveal that he was semi-behind it. He wanted to see how this played out.

"I need to talk with my parents."

Lory raised an eyebrow in confusion. Or at least he acted like he did. In the end, he smirked.

"Of course," Lory turned on his computer to video chat Kuu and Julie. He was delighted when they picked up almost immediately, and turned his computer screen towards Ren so that he could talk with them.

"Lory? Why did you call us at this hour?" Kuu rubbed his tired eyes.

"Hey, Mom and Dad," Kuon acknowledged them. The two who looked like they were just about to go to bed before they were called were shocked. Julie clasped her hands over her mouth with tears in her eyes while Kuu smiled a heavenly smile. Their son had finally come back to them.

"Kuon!" Julie exclaimed.

"Hey, Mom," Kuon couldn't help from smiling. He couldn't believe that he had ever shut contact off with his parents. He loved them too much to ever let them have that pain again.

"Why are you calling us, my boy?" Kuu asked.

Kuon sighed. "Something really weird is going on here. Do you two remember Mogami Kyoko?"

"You mean my other son? Have you met her?" Kuu asked, excited.

"Why did she accompany you when you came to Japan that time?" Kuon asked.

"I wanted someone to cook traditional Kyoto food, and Boss happened to assign her to be a manager-of-sorts for me. She's an amazing cook, and I learned that she's also an actress with incredible talent. You would admire her skill in method acting," Kuu said, proud of his other son.

"Did you try bullying her when you first met her?" Kuon asked, remembering that Lory told him that Kuu had tried to make her cry to see him that time.

"What? Of course not! We hit it off right when she cooked an amazing meal for me! What's with the sudden interest in my other son, Kuon? Are you jealous?" Kuu asked.

Julie gasped. "Are you in love with her?!"

"Mom!" Ren blushed at her straight-forward question.

"Oh my god, you are! Kuu! Our son's finally in love!" Julie exclaimed.

"Really? We have to get the wedding prepared right now!" Kuu replied.

"Wait! Don't just assume that I'm in love-"

"Kuon. It's obvious that you love her. You have that look in your eyes. I'm proud of you," Lory said with a smile.

"I'm going to design your wedding outfits right now! Bye, honey!" Julie ended the video chat before Kuon could say otherwise.

"How did you fall in love with her? Why did you never tell me?" Lory questioned. He of course had known that Kuon was head over heels in love with Kyoko, but he acted like he didn't.

"Nevermind. I did what I needed to do," Ren said while turning to leave the office. When he walked out of the door, Mina came out of her hiding place to finish her conversation with Lory.

"All we can do now is see how this plays out. I've always wondered if affection is timeless," Lory grinned.

…

After the talk with his parents, Ren felt like he finally had an understanding as to what was happening. Kyoko and everyone else had forgotten any interactions she had ever had with him, and he had travelled back in time to two years ago. But everything else had pretty much stayed the same. With his newfound knowledge, a fire burned behind his eyes. He was just going to have to make his princess fall in love with him again.

…

Sho smirked while reclining on a sofa while waiting for his next interview. He knew Kyoko's number by memory, so there was no trouble contacting her since she wouldn't ignore his calls anymore.

"Moshi moshi," Kyoko answered.

"Yo," Sho responded.

There was a slight pause before Kyoko asked, "Who is this?"

"Fuwa Sho."

"Oh! Why are you calling me, Fuwa-san? How did you get my number?"

"I wanted to ask you to dinner tomorrow night," Sho smirked again. He heard a sigh.

"Why should I go to dinner with you?"

"I want to apologize for the last time we met in person," Sho said sincerely. "Please?"

After a long pause, Kyoko finally answered, "Okay. What time? I have filming until 7." She was always willing to hear someone sincerely apologize. When they did, she could never stay mad at them. This lesson she had learned pretty recently, but she couldn't remember where from.

Sho pumped his fist. He had successfully gotten her to eat dinner with him!

"I'll text you the address of the restaurant. Meet me there at 7:30." Sho stated before ending the call. He smiled. Finally he had a chance, and this time he wasn't going to lose her.

Kyoko sighed after the call with Sho. This guy was similar to Reino in a lot of ways. Disrespectful and confident. But there was also something else. She felt like there was some sort of hidden aspect to his personality. A redeeming feature. She just couldn't put a finger onto what that feature was. Maybe there was more to this Fuwa Sho than she thought.

…

Ren had asked his manager about Kyoko's schedule who had then looked at him suspiciously. Ren was never the type to be interested in others' schedules.

"Why?" Yashiro asked.

"I would like to meet with her today if possible," Ren replied.

"For what? I've never heard you mention her name before," Yashiro said. He had heard of his charge suddenly claiming to be married to Kyoko from Kanae. What was wrong with Ren?

"I wanted to discuss a work issue with her," Ren lied.

"What work issue? You two have never worked together," Yashiro stated before pausing and teasing Ren, "I know Kyoko-chan is a pretty girl, but I didn't know she was your type."

Yashiro's jaw dropped when he saw a faint blush appear on Ren's face. He tried to cover up the emotion by coughing and using his hand to hide the blush, but it was too late. His manager had already seen it.

"Just tell me her schedule," Ren said.

Yashiro couldn't think coherently after Ren's reaction to the first Love Me member. He couldn't understand why Ren had just reacted in that way! He automatically responded, "All Love Me members today have mandatory Love Me jobs until noon." Ren thanked his manager for the information and told him to take a break to go eat lunch. He would figure out his own lunch and pick Yashiro up at 2 to go to their next modeling shoot. When Yashiro left, he started his trek through LME.

Walking towards the Love Me room, Ren was ecstatic when Kyoko came out right when he came within a few feet of the door. He hadn't wanted to enter the room in fear of the reactions of the other two Love Me members.

"Mogami-san!" Ren called out to get her attention. She turned and her eyes went wide when she saw him. Corn?

"Mogami-san?" Ren was now right in front of her, wondering why she looked so confused. He decided that it probably had to do with him suddenly calling her name.

"Huh?" Kyoko said. She realized now that his hair had appeared blonde from the lights reflecting off it, but she couldn't help but think how he could look exactly like Corn with blonde hair and green eyes...

"I was trying to ask if you would accompany me to lunch today. I haven't eaten in any of the restaurants in LME before due to my hectic schedule usually forcing me to pick up onigiri on the way to my destination. Would you happen to know the best restaurant?"

Kyoko's aura darkened. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was people not taking care of their own bodies. "Tsuruuggaa-ssannnn. Are you implying that you eat that innutritious store-bought food every day?"

"I usually have no time to eat a full meal since I have such a hectic schedule…" Ren scratched the back of his head.

Kyoko's jaw dropped. "That's not good! Actors need to have enough energy for their work! I'll come eat with you today. Yashiro would appreciate his charge eating well, not to mention I can't stand when people don't take care of their body."

Ren couldn't help but smile. He loved the way she cared about everyone's health even if they were strangers. She was just that kind of person.

…

When Kyoko and Ren arrived at LA Hearts to eat, Kyoko ordered a full set lunch for Ren when he had tried to order a mere soup. As they waited for their food, Ren couldn't help but hear the whispers around them. Many were wondering why the two famous actors were eating together, but some were glaring at the pair. Many women were jealous with Kyoko getting to eat with Ren while many men were jealous for Ren getting to eat with Kyoko. They started to whisper around the couple. Kyoko felt embarassed.

"Tsuruga-san, I'm really sorry for forcing you to eat with me! I wouldn't want to ruin your image by having you seen eating with a low-rate actress such as myself! I can just take my food to go-"

"Mogami-san. I have no problem eating together with you. You're an amazing actress who is equal if not better than I am. You are in no way a low-rate actress," Ren interrupted her.

His praise had gotten Kyoko to blush. A compliment like that from the top actor in Japan would cause anyone to. He smiled a true smile at her, but was worried he had scared her since she was frozen with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Mogami-san? What's wrong?" Ren asked worriedly.

"Too bright…" Kyoko mumbled as their food arrived. Ren chuckled. The two started to eat in a comfortable silence until Kyoko asked him about acting which led into a nice conversation between the two about acting and their individual projects at that moment. Kyoko enjoyed talking with Ren. Even though she wasn't that acquainted with him, she felt comfortable talking with him. Once they had finished their meal, Kyoko checked the time and found that it was 1:30 already.

"I'm terribly sorry, Tsuruga-san! I have to be at the studio to film Box R!" Kyoko bowed.

"No worries, Mogami-san. I enjoyed eating with you." Ren replied, not one to keep someone from their work. She insisted on paying but was unable to when Ren snatched the bill away with his quick reflexes and handed his credit card to the waiter. "You'd better hurry, Mogami-san. I wouldn't want for you to be late to filming," Ren smiled at her.

"Thank you, Tsuruga-san."

"Please call me Ren. And I also thank you for eating with me today, Kyoko-san."

"Okay, Ren-san! Remember to take care of your body and eat three full meals every day from now on!" Kyoko added before scurrying away to get to her shoot.

As Ren looked at her retreating form, he couldn't stop the real smile appearing on his face. They were already on a first name basis! That was more progress in two days than he had gotten in the two years he had first known her!

...

 **I hope that I gave both of them a good enough chance to get Kyoko's heart! I'm not really used to writing about the good parts of Sho, so I hope next chapter with Sho's dinner with Kyoko will not be too OOC and will give him a good chance to win against Ren! So far I feel like most of the characters have been pretty in character, but please tell me otherwise if they haven't been.  
**

 **So this story will be pretty nice to Ren since that senpai-kohai relationship he had with Kyoko doesn't exist, but hopefully it's also nice to Sho since he never hurt her in the first place. I'm really excited for them to battle it out, and I think you guys will look forward to when the two first meet ;)**


	4. 4-A Fairytale Dinner Date

**I'm really sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I had a really busy week, and I had no time to write! Also, it was really hard for me to write Kyoko and Sho fluff. I researched them for a long time before finally deciding on the right way to have Sho try to win Kyoko's affection. At first I wrote about Sho making her hate him again and trying to have the largest space in her heart but realized that wouldn't really work lol. So I decided on this approach. I really hope that this chapter is okay for you readers. This is my first time writing Sho and Kyoko fluff, so please tell me how well I did! To any Ren and Kyoko shippers who don't like Sho and Kyoko progress, there will be more of Ren and Kyoko next chapter!**

 **I'm really sorry that this chapter is so short, but I didn't want to start another big event in the same chapter as Sho and Kyoko's date. Next chapter should be up quicker and it'll hopefully be longer!**

 **Thank you to all who have supported me, and I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

After filming for Box R, Kyoko asked her manager to drop her off at the address Sho had texted her. After the day she had just had, she was glad she could just sit down for a nice dinner. She just wanted to completely forget about what Reino had done. Sho had wanted to meet in the lobby of a five-star hotel to eat in the restaurant on the top floor. When she got to the hotel, she was surprised when the hotel staff opened her car door and helped her out like she was a princess. She entered the lobby and was awestruck by the insanely realistic replica of Cinderella's carriage sitting in the lobby and immediately went into la la land as she imagined herself as a princess like Cinderella. Sho was standing next to it and smirked when he saw Kyoko's reaction to the carriage. He had especially picked this hotel to eat at since it was a fairytale-themed hotel with a fairytale-themed restaurant. He walked over to Kyoko and said, "I'm guessing you like fairytales a lot."

Kyoko was snapped out of la la land when she heard Sho. "Oh, yes! I've always loved fairytales."

"Let's go to the restaurant then," Sho extended his arm to Kyoko like a prince would. She thought momentarily of Reino having been her prince in her childhood and what he had done earlier but quickly schooled her hateful expression. Unfortunately for her, Sho caught her reaction to thoughts about Reino. When she took his arm, he led her to the elevator which let them out on the top floor. Kyoko's jaw dropped at the amazing ballroom looking restaurant that looked exactly like the ballroom where Belle and the Beast danced.

"Reservation for two under Fuwa Sho," Sho told the host. The host flagged over a waiter who then instructed the two to follow him. The two entertainers were led to a booth near the corner of the ballroom so that no one noticed the celebrities dining together, but they were still allowed a full view of the exquisite dining hall. On their table was a single rose encased in a glass case with a couple fallen petals inside. Kyoko's eyes sparkled as she sat down. Sho smirked. He was the one who knew her best, so he knew she would like his pick of venue.

"This is amazing..." Kyoko said while still looking around the ballroom.

"Pffttt! Of course! The best singer in Japan wouldn't eat anywhere less amazing than here," Sho folded his arms and raised his chin in pride.

"So you asked me to this fancy dinner just for an apology?"

"Well that wasn't the only reason why I asked you out on this date..." Sho rubbed the back of his head. "I also really wanted to have dinner with you."

"Eh? Why?"

Before Sho could answer, the waiter came back asking for their orders. Sho ordered an expensive set meal while Kyoko attempted to order just a salad after seeing the prices of the menu items.

"Please order whatever you want. It's my treat as an apology. I'm really sorry for saying those things earlier," Sho said.

"Okay. I'll have this set meal called Aurora's Delight. I accept your apology. Sometimes an apology really can solve anything," Kyoko smiled causing Sho's heart to feel guilty from never once apologizing to his childhood friend for how he treated her before in the last few years.

After the waiter left, Sho asked Kyoko about what had been bugging him the whole time. "Did something bad happen today or something? You had a hateful look on your face earlier." ' _That's usually reserved for me...'_ Sho added as an afterthought.

"Oh, it's nothing," Kyoko attempted to shrug it off before Sho grabbed both of her hands in his own and looked into her eyes.

"I know that there's something bugging you. Please tell me what it is."

Kyoko looked at Sho for a second, wondering why this stranger cared about her troubles so much before deciding to tell him everything. She needed to vent, and she hadn't gotten the chance to vent to anyone today yet.

"Reino of Vie Ghoul came to my set today and forcefully kissed me in front of everyone, saying that since I hadn't fallen in love with anyone yet, I should go back to be with him. He treated me like a maid for my whole life when I was little and naive, and then expects for me to forgive him and love him? I don't think that's even possible! I'm not his property that he can do whatever he wants with!" Kyoko ranted before tears rolled down her face.

During her spiel, Sho had darkened at the thought of Reino laying his hands on his Kyoko. He would have to talk to that beagle later. For now though, he wanted to comfort his childhood friend. He had never been able to comfort her when she cried, but this time he vowed that he would. He felt guilty that he had been the one before to make her this distressed in this situation, but he wanted to console her. He wanted to redeem himself for all those times she cried about her mother, and he stood there like an idiot staring at her and not doing anything.

"That beagle is a bastard. I'm sorry that that happened to you. You don't deserve that," Sho tried say. "Reino's an idiot for throwing such an amazing girl like you away," Sho said before blushing at what he had just said like a little kid. Never in his life had he said something as sappy as that. He heard Kyoko laugh, and looked up startled by her sudden change in mood.

"I've never heard of Fuwa Sho getting so flustered! I'm sorry for laughing, but I never thought you had this side to yourself with the kind of image you have," Kyoko laughed. Her laughter was contagious, causing Sho to also laugh.

"This is a secret between the both of us, but I also love to eat pudding," Sho guiltily admitted in between laughs.

"Woah! I never expected you to like something like that!" Kyoko laughed again. Sho was glad that Kyoko wasn't sad anymore, and he felt at ease while talking about these embarrassing things with her since at least she wasn't crying anymore. He knew that he could tell her anything. He knew her the best, and she him. They had an unbreakable bond. He would surely win her heart.

…

After they finished dinner, Sho drove Kyoko back to the Darumaya where she lived. As they approached her house, she began to laugh again. "I really enjoyed our dinner tonight. I knew that there was something different about you other than the visual kei image you have. You made my bad day at least a little better," Kyoko smiled a genuine smile at him which caused Sho's heart to skip a beat.

As Sho stopped the car, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with a pen. He wrote something down on it before extending it to Kyoko. "Here. This is my contact information."

"Thanks," Kyoko smiled at him again before exiting the car and going into the Darumaya.

Sho sat in his car, pondering over how he had treated Kyoko before. He couldn't stand her crying, and he felt immensely guilty for being the reason for her to cry that much after that kiss. Truthfully, he had always felt guilty somewhere when he knew she worked three jobs to pay for their apartment together, but he had been too caught up in his music, image, and popularity. He didn't want to lose those things to his plain childhood friend, but he had regretted losing her and treating her like that after she had left him. Sho would give the world to have her back in his arms again. He had always tried to make her hate him since he knew that really was the only way that she would ever look his way again. At least now, he had another chance. He had never hurt her. He could get her to look at him differently. He would get her love once and for all, and he would never hurt her again.

* * *

 **Now to answer some questions from Guest again!**

 **-The significance of two years is mostly so that Kyoko is already well-established in the entertainment world and so that Ren hasn't confessed his feelings to her. Two years is about the time I would think for Ren and Kyoko to be dating before getting married, so I chose to have them go back two years in time. Sho's wish was for another chance with Kyoko, so he needed to be put in a place where Ren never confessed but for Kyoko to still be in the entertainment world so that he can get close to her. In regards to the timeline of my fic compared to canon, it's about one year after the Momiji auditions in the fall.**

 **-Lory will not interfere this time. He wants everyone to find love for themselves and be happy about it, so he would be fine with whoever Kyoko chooses in the end.**

 **-Ren and Sho will eventually find out about each other, and I'm really excited to write about that moment! I can't wait for them to battle it out over Kyoko lol.**

 **Thanks for reading! Any more questions I would be happy to answer! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. 5-Fangirlish Tendencies

**I'm really sorry for such a late update! I haven't had the time to write, and I had a pretty bad case of writer's block. This chapter isn't really as long as I promised, so again I'm sorry!**

 **Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

The day after Kyoko's dinner with Sho, she was supposed to film Box R the whole day until 4 then go back to LME to finish up any Love Me work she had yet to finish. Yashiro had gotten a hold on Kyoko's schedule for Ren, and he was currently trying to figure out a time when Ren could meet her per Ren's orders. He had no idea why his client wanted to see this girl so much. He needed answers. Currently his client and him were walking to the parking lot to get to their next appointment, so what better time to find out then now?

"Kyoko and you should both be free after 6 today," Yashiro told Ren.

"Thanks for helping me out, Yukihito," Ren replied, excited that he would be able to see Kyoko that day. He unconsciously let out his genuine smile which caused Yashiro to jump at the weird expression he had never seen before on Ren.

"What's up with you recently? Why do you want to meet with Kyoko so badly?" Yashiro eyed Ren suspiciously before fake-gasping.

"Don't tell me you've fallen in love?!"

"Don't you think we need to get going to our next appointment, Yukihito?"

Yashiro was going to find out why Ren was acting so weird in any means possible. Luckily, he knew how to get his client to comply.

"Ren, can I see your phone for a second? I need to call RMandy to reschedule that modeling shoot that overlapped with your filming, and my phone is out of battery," Yashiro said while pulling out his gloves to handle any electronic devices. Ren pulled his phone out of his pocket and gave it to Yashiro's gloved hand who then took his glove off the other hand to Ren's horror.

"You have ten seconds to tell me why you want to see Kyoko so badly. You know that I can break a phone in only ten seconds if it's in contact with my bare hands," Yashiro said while putting Ren's phone into his now ungloved hand.

"Yukihito..."

"Ten."

"I have no idea what you're-"

"Nine."

"-talking about!"

"Eight."

Ren looked at his phone in Yashiro's hand and weighed his decision.

"Seven."

"Six."

"You wouldn't break your client's phone for such a small matter right?"

"Five."

"Four."

"Yukihito-"

"Three. Two."

"Okay! I'll tell you!" Ren yelled out. Yashiro immediately put Ren's phone back into his gloved hand and handed it back to Ren. After checking that his phone was alright, Ren put it into his pocket. He had decided to tell his manager why he wanted to see Kyoko so badly even though he would get hearing loss by the end of it. Someone on his side, especially his manager, would make it easier to get Kyoko to fall in love with him again.

"I love her."

Ren confessed then immediately covered his ears as Yashiro issued a fan girlish scream. All passerby turned to see what had caused the un-humanlike sound, but Ren had already pulled Yashiro into a nearby broom closet to save him the embarrassment of his fangirl tendencies getting revealed.

"Yukihito! Please don't ever do that in public again!" Ren scolded Yashiro.

"I can't believe you fell in love with Love Me number one! This is amazing! I never thought you would fall in love with anyone!" Yashiro squealed.

"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you…"

"That's not fair, Ren. I would tell you if _I_ was in love if you asked-"

"Oh would you now? Then are you ready to tell me about your secret relationship with Kanae?"

"WHHHAAATTTTTT?!"

…

Ren smirked at how flustered Yashiro had been when asked about Kanae. So this was how Yashiro had felt while teasing him about Kyoko. Ren knew that Yashiro and Kanae had secretly dated about a year before he and Kyoko did, so he was happy to finally get payback on his manager. He had avoided the question by immediately dragging Ren to his next appointment, but Ren wasn't going to let this go. He would just have to bring this topic up later. Fortunately for Yashiro, Ren's number one priority was to have his wife fall in love with him again. Since she was a LoveMe member, the best place to look for her would be the LoveMe room. When he got to the Love Me room this time however, he bumped into Kanae who was on her way out. She scoffed at the actor's obvious attempt to get into the LoveMe room.

"What? Just because you're Japan's top actor, you think you can just waltz into anywhere you want?" Kanae glared at Ren.

"You wouldn't want to keep someone from the person they love by not letting them into a room, would you?"

"If you loved my best friend, then I would. I won't let her go through more heartbreak from yet another guy. Reino's enough trouble," Kanae sneered at Ren. Just then, Kyoko opened the door to the conversation between her best friend and Ren.

"Oh! Ren-san! Why are you here?" Kyoko asked before her mood darkened. "You remembered to eat lunch today, right?"

Ren smiled a gentlemanly smile as he said, "Of course, Kyoko-san."

"What did you eat?" Kyoko pointedly stared at him.

"Yashiro and I stopped at the convenience store for some onigiri on the way to my job…" Ren confessed, aware of the effect his words would have on Kyoko.

Kyoko's jaw dropped. "Ren-san! Don't you know how to take care of your body? Onigiri isn't filling enough for lunch! Next time you have to have something filling!"

Ren chuckled, which fueled Kyoko's anger. "I bet you were even thinking of skipping dinner…" Kyoko said before an unladylike rumble was heard from her stomach. She blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh! Kyoko-san, have you perhaps not eaten dinner yet either?"

"No…" Kyoko said.

"In that case, would you like to accompany me to a restaurant so that both of us could get dinner together?" Ren asked.

"Oh it's okay, Ren-san. I wouldn't want to annoy you with my presence-"

"Please, Kyoko-san? My manager has already left for the day, and I can't eat in a restaurant by myself…"

Kyoko thought for a second before deciding to go along with Ren's plans. She was hungry, and she could also make sure he ate right if she went along with him. "Okay, Ren-san. I'll have dinner with you."

"Mo! Wait a second! Did you two forget that I was here? And why are you two so familiar with each other all of a sudden?" Kanae said in annoyance.

"I'm so sorry, Moko-san! Did you want to eat with us as well?" Kyoko said in a bow. At least she wasn't in a dogeza this time though. Ren hoped that Kanae wouldn't impose on his alone time with Kyoko, but he knew she probably would. It seemed like she hated him, so there was a big chance that she would come along to protect her friend.

Kanae clicked her tongue in annoyance at Kyoko's formality. She didn't want to let her best friend get hurt again by another guy, but she wasn't exactly in control of her friend's whole life. Besides, she had to get to a date with Yashiro.

"You better not think about doing anything to her…" Kanae whispered in Ren's ear before trudging away.

…

"So what would you like to eat for dinner, Kyoko-san?" Ren asked while the pair was riding in his car out of the LME parking lot.

"Oh! I'm fine with anything, Ren-san! I'll eat whatever you want to eat!"

"Okay, then let's eat roasted frogs!" Ren said, not able to withstand teasing her again.

"NOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO EAT THAT!" Kyoko screamed in horror.

…

In the end, the couple went to the same hamburger steak restaurant that they had previously gone to when Kyoko had been Ren's substitute manager. Kyoko's mouth watered at the glorious hamburger steak sitting in front of her before she dug in. Ren watched her enjoyment and smiled at the memory of her as a little girl in Kyoto telling him about the hamburger kingdom. He chuckled at the memory.

"What are you laughing about, Ren-san?" Kyoko asked between bites of her hamburger steak.

"I was just thinking of what a cute expression you have while eating hamburger steak," Ren said with a genuine smile, causing Kyoko to blush and focus on her food to prevent herself from having to look at Ren's expression. Until she heard the sound of a camera shutter.

"Someone took a picture of us together! Your reputation's going to be ruined by eating in such a restaurant with a low-rate actress such as myself! I'm so sorry, Ren-sannnnnn."

"Relax, Kyoko-san. There's no need to apologize. Please don't call yourself a low-rate actress. I have seen your work, and I for one can say that your acting skills are equal to or even better than mine," Ren said causing Kyoko to once again blush. "Let's just take the rest of our food to-go and move somewhere away from prying eyes to finish before any more press find us," Ren said while flagging over a waiter to box up their food.

"Okay, Ren-san," Kyoko replied, still ashamed at having dragged Ren into this situation that would probably leave his reputation damaged.

"We can finish dinner at my apartment since it's close by," Ren said with a hint of the Emperor of the Night gleam in his eyes. Unfortunately, Kyoko had no idea what she was in for having never met the Emperor.

* * *

 **I know a lot of this chapter was me pretty much copying scenes from canon. My explanation for this is that these canon events have never happened in this timeline since Ren has never met Kyoko. I know the canon events are slightly different, but that's because the characters have grown compared to the canon timeline in which these events happened. I hope that this chapter was enjoyable, and I hope you all can forgive me for the late update! I can't promise when my next update will be, but I am pretty sure it will be sooner than this one was put up since I'm really excited to write Ren and Kyoko in Ren's apartment ;).**


	6. 6-Dark Moon Repeat

**I'm super sorry that I haven't updated in like a month but life got in the way! Here's the latest chapter which is short again, but I'll try to make them longer in the future! Thanks for supporting this story even though I'm horrible at updating!**

* * *

When Kyoko arrived at Ren's apartment, she was blown away by its size and the upkeep. His whole apartment was spotless without even a speck of dust anywhere to be seen. Everything was perfectly decorated, and the apartment was way more than a single actor would ever need to live a comfortable life. As Ren handed her a pair of guest slippers with fairies all over (that he had bought a couple hours ago after realizing that his princess's slippers were also gone due to the new timeline), her eyes sparkled while she went into fairytale land. Thus, the reason behind why Ren had such slippers completely slipped her mind. He had bought them for her when she had moved in with him, and she had loved them. He smirked at her expression at the moment since she had had a similar expression when first receiving them. When Kyoko woke up from la la land, she realized Ren had already set out all their food in the living room. He motioned for her to sit as he already was, a little disappointed when she chose to take the small seat across from him instead of sitting next to him on the couch. As the pair started to eat, they engaged in friendly conversation about acting.

"What had been your favorite project to act on so far?" Ren asked.

"I would have to say Dark Moon. It was my first drama ever, and it was also the first time I had ever created a character on my own," Kyoko said while smiling at the memory.

"I always wondered if they ever considered you for the part of Katsuki? You seem like you could have played the part well! Did you turn the offer down?" Kyoko asked.

"I don't remember that particular offer. My manager usually sorts through my offers for me," Ren lied. He had actually acted out Katsuki, but Kyoko wouldn't remember.

"I think you could have also done a good Mizuki," Ren said with a teasing grin.

"Really? Most of my roles so far have been bully roles. My newest role is my first protagonist role!" Kyoko said.

"Well would you like to have a little acting exercise after dinner? I'll be Katsuki while you be Mizuki," Ren said. Kyoko wondered if Ren would be able to grasp the character of Katsuki since he had never read a Dark Moon script before but decided he would be able to since he was Japan's number one actor.

"Sure! That sounds like fun!" Kyoko replied, excited to act against the infamous Tsuruga Ren.

The two talked about their latest projects until their plates were empty. Ren cleaned up and suggested that they do a scene where Mizuki goes to see Katsuki in his apartment while he's sick. He remembered Kyoko telling him that she had started to fall in love with him during his Katsuki acting test, so he wanted to test and see if it would work again. It was as good of a starting place as any. Kyoko agreed to the arrangement since she didn't have any scripts for Dark Moon with her at the moment, and she was excited to try adlibbing a scene. She exited his apartment to get in character while he stayed inside. As she got into the character of Mizuki, she pictured herself as a student secretly in love with her teacher sneaking to his house. The street where he lived was crowded with pedestrians, so she had to go unnoticed or people would talk. She ran to his door and rang the doorbell, awaiting an answer. When he didn't answer, she kept ringing the doorbell more frantically until finally Ren opened the door for her.

"Sensei?" Kyoko asked as she looked at a disheveled Ren, wondering if he really was feeling sick since his acting was so realistic. Meanwhile, Ren felt pride in Kyoko not making the same mistake as she did the last time when he had to NG her for forgetting to picture her surroundings and that she was a student visiting her teacher's house. She had really grown as an actress in the years following Dark Moon, and it showed. He brought forth an expression of shock at seeing his student arrive at his doorstep before quickly schooling his expression.

"Hongo-san? Why are you here?" Ren smiled politely with a raspy voice to indicate that he was still sick.

"Sensei hasn't come to school for a while, so I was worried about you," Kyoko said.

"Ah, I see. I've been sick for a few days, but I should be fine by tomorrow. I'll be able to come to school then," Ren said still smiling. "You can go now. It was nice seeing you today," Ren said while closing the door lightly, knowing what was about to happen and not wanting to inflict too much pain on his loved one. He was still guilty though when her foot prevented the door from closing at the expense of her own pain. She had slid her foot in between the door so that it wouldn't close.

"Sensei~Aren't you hungry? You've been sick the whole day and probably have had nothing to eat yet~" Kyoko said in a Mio-like fashion. She would get in no matter what. Ren glanced at Kyoko's foot to find her sandaled foot sporting a red bruise.

"Okay! Hongo-San! Come in quickly so I can bandage up your foot," Ren said as he led Kyoko into his apartment.

Kyoko acted surprised at his apartment since it wasn't every day that you visited your teacher's apartment. His apartment was huge for a teacher's salary. As she sat down on the couch while Ren got a first aid kit, she looked around his living room. On the shelf near her were lots of American movies. Many she knew starred Kuu Hizuri, the legendary Japanese actor whom she had the privilege to call father after acting out his son Kuon on his last visit to Japan. She guessed that Ren was probably a fan too.

Ren came back into the living room with a first aid kit to bandage up Kyoko's hurt foot. He quickly but skillfully wrapped it up. Once he was done, he closed the first aid kit with a snap. "Okay, I'm done bandaging your foot. You can go home now," Ren said as he got up to put the first aid kit away.

"Wait! But Sensei has been sick for so many days! Let me cook you a meal. You probably haven't eaten anything the whole day!" Kyoko begged to stay as she grabbed his arm.

"Hongo-san. Please. Go home," Ren said as he led Kyoko to the door before staggering and holding onto the wall as if he was sick and couldn't walk straight.

"Sensei!" Kyoko put her arm on Ren's before pulling it away, remembering how she was supposed to be his student. Ren missed her caring hand's warmth immediately after she had pulled it away.

"Please lie down and rest! Can you walk?" Kyoko said as she dragged Ren up to his feet. She brought him to his bedroom and set him down on his bed before matter-of-factly stating "I'll go make you some congee to eat. Please stay here until it's done," and leaving the room to go to the kitchen. Ren sat on his bed, thinking about if he would be able to get Kyoko to fall in love with him again. He didn't know if he could take it. She was his light at the end of a tunnel. He had gotten through so much of his own darkness just because she was at his side. He had thought he had already gotten a happy ending when they were married, but then this weird time-travel thing happened and his happiness was shattered. Brought to a place where his love didn't remember him at all brought this unbearable pain that he couldn't stand. He came to the conclusion that loving someone can hurt at times.

 _Klak!_

Ren ran towards his kitchen, knowing what was about to happen. When he arrived, he saw Kyoko standing on an unstable box attempting to reach his pots and pans.

"Sorry, Sensei, I tried to find a pot to cook the congee in, and I'm not used to how high up you store your pots and pans. I didn't want to wake you since I told you to rest-" Kyoko said before the box underneath her slipped out from under her. Ren tried to grab her and pull her out of harm's way like he did the first time she helped him with Katsuki, but was confused when he felt no Kyoko in his arms. She had landed with her two feet planted firmly on the ground in a ninja-like stance.

"Kyoko-san! Are you okay?" Ren asked.

"Yes. I had some stunt-training while preparing for the role of Momiji that trained me in stunts like these," Kyoko smiled. Ren smiled back at her with his gentleman smile, angry that he had missed his chance. Kyoko had told him that she had started to fall in love with him during his Katsuki acting test, and he had wanted to replicate that scene again especially that point where he asked if she wanted kissing lessons except this time he would just kiss her immediately. He would have to use a different strategy to have her fall in love with him again, and he just hoped that there wasn't a time limit to this whole thing because it took an extremely long time for her to fall in love with him the first time and finally admit her feelings. As long as she didn't have any other suitors, however, Ren felt pretty confident that he could get Kyoko to fall in love with him.

* * *

 **I hope you liked this chapter! As always I've tried to stick to canon as much as possible, but of course with a twist due to the different timeline. Thanks for putting up with me! I can't really make any promises as to when the next chapter will be out since I want to give you guys a good chapter except I have writers' block right now. I hope that I'll get out of my writers' block soon so that I can write more for you all!**

 **...**

 **My thoughts on the latest Skip Beat chapter:**

 **THAT GIRL I WANT TO KILL HER OMG WHY CAN SHE DO THAT AND KYOKO BELIEVED IT AND I JUST WANT REN TO COME BACK AND COMFORT HER AND DEBUNK ALL OF THE LIES. They better solve that issue with the picture soon and get that stupid girl out of the picture as soon as possible. Ren also better give Kyoko her White Day gift ASAP or she's going to be even more sad :(.**


	7. 7-Anger and Confrontation

**Thank you so much for all of your reviews. To be honest I've been feeling down lately and your reviews made me really happy and finally got me out of my slump. So I cannot thank you guys enough for the reviews you've left for me. I try to write this fic whenever I have free time, so hopefully updates will be quicker than once a month like last time :P. I feel like my chapters are getting shorter and shorter, so I'm sorry. Please enjoy this chapter, though!**

* * *

Last night after his failed attempt at catching his love when she fell, he had driven Kyoko home to the Darumaya and said goodbye. Taisho had glared at him since he had dropped Kyoko home so late, but Ren was ever the gentleman and immediately apologized. As Ren strolled through the lobby of LME the day after Kyoko visited his apartment, he felt like he was being glared he looked to his right, he saw the source of the glare was none other than Love Me member#2. They locked eyes and Kanae motioned over to the direction of a secluded hallway. Ren knew she probably needed to talk to him, so he started to walk over to where Kanae had motioned to meet. When he arrived in the hallway, he was met with an intense glare from Kanae.

"What exactly do you want with Kyoko?" Kanae demanded.

"I want her to fall in love with me," Ren replied.

"Well you did such a great job at keeping her safe. She called me late last night like she does every night to talk about her day, and she mentioned going to your apartment. Aren't you supposed to be Japan's number one actor? The press posted the picture of you two eating together in that family-style restaurant saying that you two are secretly dating! What would you have done if the press had found out about her going to your apartment? Don't you know how much a scandal would hurt Kyoko's career? She just got put into the top ten actresses of Japan list, and she doesn't need Japan's number one actor causing her to get kicked off that list!" Kanae fumed.

"I assure you, my apartment complex is heavily guarded, and the press have no idea where I live," Ren confirmed.

"Well I'm also mad at you for taking her back to your apartment in the first place! You know Kyoko. She's extremely naive and innocent. If you were to hurt her, I swear I would personally track you down and make it so that you would never see the light of day ever again," Kanae threatened.

"I would never intentionally hurt her. Even though I want to be more than friends, Kyoko-san is my friend. I will always treat her with utmost respect, and I would kill myself if I ever hurt her like that. I love her," Ren replied.

"The fact that you think you're in love with her makes me want to protect her more. If that's your reason for interacting with her so much, then I don't want you seeing her at all. She's been through an insane amount of heartbreak. As long as I'm her friend, I don't want to see her that hurt ever again," Kanae frowned.

"Kotonami-san. I understand your worries. You, as do all the others in the Love Me section, hate the idea of love making one vulnerable and hurt. Before, I would have agreed with your viewpoint. But now that I've had the experience of feeling the love I feel for Kyoko, I have to disagree with that point of view. Love can heal your scars and make your life feel complete. It brings happiness that is unimaginable unless you've felt it before. I know now that if Kyoko left my life, I couldn't live without her. My life has changed completely after meeting her," Ren confessed.

"Wow that was an incredibly sappy speech. I would have never expected the great Tsuruga Ren to say something like that," Kanae replied. She could tell that this guy was crazy in love with her best friend, but she was still worried. But wouldn't she always worry? She didn't want her friend to escape the pink curse without her, so she had warded off any potential suitors. They had only been enamored with her for a short time anyways and weren't serious about her. But this guy seemed serious. Kanae didn't know why, but she just knew that he was telling the truth about how deep his love for Kyoko went. He really cared about her. Who would she be if she got in the way of her best friend's happiness? She didn't want to let Tsuruga Ren hurt her friend, but she could tell he was sincere and that Kyoko was friends with him already.

"You can try to win my best friend's heart, but good luck. She's the most dense person I know, and don't think that I'll help you either," Kanae sighed. She folded her arms and started to walk away. "Don't hurt her," she mumbled before disappearing from Ren's sight. Ren looked back at where Kanae had disappeared before feeling someone tapping on his shoulder.

"Ren! There you are! I've looked all over for you! We have to get to your next modeling shoot, and after lunch you have an interview at TBM studios. Come on!" Yashiro said. Ren followed his manager, knowing what his next plan to get Kyoko to fall in love with him would be. He would be visiting a certain chicken tonight.

…

"Mina-chan! This spell is taking so long! It'll be a year before any of them make a move on Kyoko-chan!" Lory complained.

"You're just impatient. I already included a fast-forward spell in the initial spell that will speed up any days that no one makes a move on Mogami Kyoko. It'll go by quicker than you think. It's already been about a month," Mina replied.

"A month?! I didn't even notice! Have I been playing otome games the whole time?" Lory's eyes widened.

"No, you've only really noticed a couple days out of the month since there's only been a couple days where anyone has interacted with Mogami Kyoko," Mina said.

"Wow. Those boys better hurry up or Kyoko-chan's going to be the number one star of Japan before any of them make a move," Lory sighed.

...

Sho stared at the news story on his television screen that he had just flipped to. It showed a picture of Kyoko blushing and Ren smiling together at a family-style restaurant with the headline saying that Kyoko and Tsuruga Ren were secretly dating. Sho clenched the remote in his hand until his knuckles were white before throwing the remote at the wall.

"Sho! What was that noise?" Shoko ran out of the room next to his before looking to the now-broken remote lying on the ground. She looked at the news channel that Sho was currently looking at. "Does this have something to do with that actress Kyoko?" she asked, bringing Sho's attention away from the television screen.

"That pinhead actor thinks he can just have whatever he wants, but I'll show him," Sho gritted his teeth.

"Whatever is making you so angry, just try to put on your public face. We have that interview with Bridge Rock later today," Shoko said before walking back into the other room. Sho immediately thought of a plan and grinned. He would show that platform-wearing actor. Kyoko would fall in love with him this time. He couldn't wait to visit a certain chicken…

"Shoko, I'm going out. I'll be back in a little bit," Sho said before leaving on his way to buy a little something for _his_ princess.

...

As Kyoko changed into her Bo costume, she felt a shiver go up her spine. Something big was going to happen today, but she didn't know what. She finished putting on her Bo costume, smiling when she remembered who would be the guest on the show today. Fuwa Sho had sparked her interest ever since their dinner date, and she was excited to learn more about him. It would be fun to interact with him in a professional setting, and she couldn't wait to see what would happen tonight. Maybe after the show, they could hang out more and become better friends. Kyoko skipped to her mark, having no idea exactly what she was in store for later that night.

* * *

 **I hope you can forgive me for that cliffhanger :). Next chapter will be pretty interesting, so follow the story if you haven't already so that you get an update right when the next chapter is up. Thanks for reading!**

 **...**

 **On an unrelated note from this story, I have a fic that I've finished writing and just need to edit before posting it. It's not as long as this one's going to be, but it'll still be a few chapters long. I want to know what you guys want. I was initially planning to start posting that fic after I finish this one, but it looks like this one still has some time to go. What's your guys' opinion? Should I start posting it and give it about weekly updates before this fic finishes or should I finish this one before starting another fic? If I start posting that fic, this fic might get slower updates until I finish uploading that one. I'm fine with doing either option, but I want to know what you guys think!**


	8. 8-Variety Show Tension

**Wow! This chapter was both easy and hard to write at the same time. I was originally going to put Ren and Sho's meet-up scene as a whole chapter, but it made sense for me to split it up here so that I could get a completed chapter out for you faster. I hope you like this chapter! Please feel free to leave a review telling me how this chapter was!**

* * *

"Good evening, everyone! Welcome to the show Yappa Kimagure Rock! Today our special guest is one of the most popular male celebrities today! He just realized a chart topping new album called _Angelic Virtues_ , he's none other than Fuwa Sho!"

As Sho came onto the stage, all of his fangirls in the audience cheered and screamed his name, some holding up big signs with his name with hearts around it. He smirked at how famous he had gotten ever since he had left Kyoto. It felt good to be admired. Sho waved to the audience then sat on the couch meant for the guests. He looked around, and immediately spotted the chicken he was looking for. He smirked.

"So Fuwa-kun, have you ever seen any episodes of Yappa Kimagure Rock?"

"I don't watch much television," Sho said in an attempt to look cooler than he actually was. No one had to know how he recorded episodes of variety shows to watch in his free time.

"Well then let's tell you how tonight's going to work. Our first segment will consist of you opening eggs provided by Bo containing questions from the audience or what the next segment of the show will be," Hikaru explained as Bo walked onto stage with a basket of eggs in its hands. Shinichi reached for an egg, and cracked it open.

"Ah! This is a question for you from an audience member! Who is your arch nemesis in the entertainment industry?" Shinichi asked.

"That pretty boy Tsuruga Ren for sure. It's not long before I take the number one spot away from him. I'll steal away all his fans and claim his title as number one in entertainment. After all, I _am_ Fuwa Sho," Sho cockily stated. His fangirls screamed that he was better than Tsuruga Ren. This only further inflated his ego.

"This next question asks how you got your big break," Yuusei said.

"Actually it was pretty normal. I sent a demo tape to my agency, and they listened to it and hired me based on my talent," Sho said.

"The next egg has a dare in it for Fuwa-kun! They want him to see his acting skills and have him act out a confession scene! Let's have you act alongside Bo," Hikaru said. Internally, he wished it wasn't Kyoko in the Bo suit for the night so that she wouldn't get confessed to by Fuwa, but he knew Fuwa probably had no idea who was in the costume much less who Kyoko was. It's not like they ever did any projects together in the past, so they wouldn't have met before this. Hikaru was ashamed that he felt so protective over Kyoko, but he was in love with her. It was only natural.

Kyoto walked on stage in her Bo costume wearing a blonde wig of curls and a bad lipstick job on Bo's beak. She also wore an oversized dress with a little bow in Bo's comb. When the audience saw the mascot, they laughed at how ridiculous Bo looked, earning a pout from Bo. Sho stepped up to Kyoko, taking a wing in one hand and kneeling.

"Bo. I can't deny my feelings for you any longer. I need to be with you. I love you," Sho said as he kissed the wing of Bo. Fangirls screamed everywhere, hoping that Sho would confess like that to them one day. Bo blushed and put a wing to its chest to show how touched it was.

"Wow Fuwa-kun! It sounds like every girl in Japan wants to be in Bo's position at this moment!" Yuusei said.

"Now let's move onto the live performance section of our show with Fuwa-kun performing the cover song from his new album _Angelic Virtues_!" Shinichi announced as the lights dimmed except for the single spotlight on Sho. All the fans started to scream as Sho grabbed the microphone and the instrumental started. Off stage, Kyoko was mesmerized by Sho as he sang. She knew that he was one of the best singers in Japan, but here she could really hear how talented he was. She broke out of her trance to hurry back to her dressing room to quickly change out of Bo so that she could meet Sho backstage after he was done.

…

Ren had just finished his interview at TBM Studios and was quickly walking to where the exit for the set of Yappa Kimagure Rock was. As he arrived, he saw Kyoko exit the set and called out to her. "Kyoko-san!"

Kyoko turned towards Ren, surprised by his sudden appearance. "Ren-san! I didn't know you were also going to be at TBM today!"

"I just finished an interview. It's great that I bumped into you. I actually told Yashiro to leave already for his dinner date, and he was worried about me not eating dinner. He told me that he would only leave if he got a confirmation from you that I actually did eat dinner since he trusts you. Would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me to dinner?" Ren asked as the door to the set of Yappa Kimagure Rock opened to reveal a blonde singer.

"Sure! That sounds great! I just wanted to talk to a friend first, but then we can go eat dinner!" Kyoko said, not aware of the darkening aura around her as Ren and Sho made eye contact. She noticed Ren looking at something behind her, so she turned around to see Sho.

"Is Fuwa Sho the friend you wanted to talk to?" Ren asked as he plastered his gentlemanly smile onto his face.

"What's Tsuruga Ren doing here, Kyoko?" Sho asked with a scowl on his face, his anger at seeing Ren bubbling beneath his surface.

"Oh! Sho-kun was the special guest today, and I just ran into Ren-san as I was exiting the set!" Kyoko smiled, oblivious to the increasing anger from both parties at how familiar she was with the other. Both were confused however, at her relationship with the other. Ren wondered how Kyoko could consider Sho as a friend while Sho wondered why Ren was so close with _his_ Kyoko again.

"If it's fine with you, Kyoko-san, I can go wait in the car while you finish your talk with Fuwa-san, and you can meet me there after you're done," Ren said, wanting to get Kyoko to himself as soon as possible.

"Wait a second. Why is she meeting you at your car? Are you two going somewhere alone?" Sho asked, his anger increasing.

"Oh! I've been impolite! Sho-kun, would you also like to join Ren-san and I for dinner as well?" Kyoko asked.

Ren froze while Sho smirked. "Fine. We can have plenty more time to talk together over dinner, _Kyoko,_ " Sho stressed how he used no honorifics as he addressed Kyoko, to Ren's discontent. As the trio started to walk towards the parking lot, Kyoto turned back around when she heard someone call out for her. She saw her friend Hikaru, running towards the group.

"Kyoko-chan! I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight. My treat," Hikaru said, not aware of who the two men flanking Kyoko on both sides were. As they turned around, the glares he got from both Ren and Sho caused him to freeze in fear.

"Oh! I'm sorry Hikaru-san! I've already made dinner plans with Ren-san and Sho-kun. Would you like to join us as well?" Kyoko asked, not aware of the glares directed towards Hikaru from the two men next to her.

"On second thought, I think I'll just go out with Yuusei and Shinichi for dinner tonight, but thanks for the invite, Kyoko-chan," Hikaru said before he turned around and ran away from the group. After he had gotten a safe distance away, he went into a slump. If both Tsuruga Ren and Fuwa Sho were also interested in Kyoko romantically, he stood no chance. After all, he was shorter than both of them.

After Hikaru had left, Kyoko and her admirers continued on their walk towards the parking lot in an uncomfortable silence. Kyoko had finally sensed the uncomfortable atmosphere between the trio. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, she broke the silence. "I have a good idea! What about we go eat at the Darumaya since it's pretty late already, and not that many restaurants are open. The press won't find us there, and if they do, the Taisho should be able to keep them out. I have a small employee discount on the food too, so I'll cook anything that you guys want!"

"That sounds like a great idea, Kyoko-san," Ren smiled sparkly at her. Sho grunted in agreement, excited at getting to taste Kyoko's homemade food again but also irritated that he would have to dine with his arch nemesis.

The trio finally arrived at the parking lot, and Ren and Kyoko started to walk towards Ren's car before Sho grabbed Kyoko's arm. "Kyoko, would you like for me to drive you instead?"

"Kyoko-san will be fine with me driving her, Fuwa-san," Ren smiled with maximum sparkle level as he swiftly but gently led Kyoko towards his car away from Sho.

* * *

 **And the tension increases... Next chapter we'll see just how well Ren and Sho get along when Kyoko's off cooking dinner. Stay tuned for the next chapter by following this story! I'll try to release the next chapter as soon as I finish writing/editing it!**

 **I've decided to finish this story before posting my next one, so my focus will be solely on this story! There's still a little time to go before I complete this story, so I hope you can bear with my updates if they're slower due to school taking up most of my time at the moment. As long as my updates aren't as long as updates for Skip Beat! chapters though, I think you guys will forgive me. The drama increases from here on out, so hopefully I'll be more inspired to write quicker updates.**


	9. 9-Newfound Knowledge

**I'm so sorry that it's taken so long for me to post another chapter. I've been super busy lately, and I actually wrote the majority of this chapter almost right after posting the last chapter. Unfortunately, I never got around to editing it until now. I have plans for where the story is going and how I'm going to end it, so hopefully this story will be finished at least by the end of this year if I update better. I have hope that I can update quicker starting in two weeks when I start to have more time on my schedule, so bear with me on these slow updates for a while until I have more time to write (really soon). Thanks for your support on this story, and I hope you like this chapter.**

* * *

Ren acted like a true gentleman as he opened the passenger door for Kyoko and shut it behind her once she was inside the car. When he got into the other side of the car, he drove off, not bothering to see if Sho was following or not.

"Um, Ren-san? Don't you need the directions to the Darumaya?" Kyoko asked, unsure of how Ren was driving in the correct direction of the Darumaya even though he had never been there before.

"Oh! Yes, Kyoko-san, that would be very helpful," Ren replied even though he had already been driving towards the restaurant. He had driven her there so many times that he had memorized how to get to the Darumaya, but Kyoko didn't know that.

Once Kyoko had given Ren the necessary directions, it was silent until Kyoko spoke out. "Thank you for offering to drive me to the Darumaya. I would usually walk or bike back, but today you've saved me the trouble! I'm sorry for the inconvenience!"

"It's no problem at all, Kyoko-san. I do worry about when you walk or bike home by yourself though. You're one of the top 10 actresses in Japan, and I don't see it as very safe for a famous celebrity such as yourself to be out in public biking to her jobs…"

"Don't worry, Ren-san! No one can notice my face on the streets anyways! I never ride my bike when I'm in character, so no one is able to recognize me!"

"I still worry about you, Kyoko-san. Please reach out to my manager or I if you really need a ride home."

"Thanks for worrying about me, Ren-san," Kyoko responded with a smile.

...

Once they arrived at the Darumaya, Sho pulled in behind them. He met up with the two, and the trio entered the restaurant, quietly shutting the door behind them as to not wake up Kyoko's landlords.

"You two can sit here at this table while I make our dinner! Do you have any preferences as to what I should cook?" Kyoko asked.

"Anything will be fine," Ren replied before Sho could respond. Kyoko turned to leave the room but was stopped when Sho called out her name.

"Kyoko! Wait!"

"Yes?"

Sho fished out a small lilac box from his pocket with a white bow on the top.

"I wanted to give this to you," Sho held out the gift for her.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly take something so fancy looking-"

"Please, Kyoko," Sho interrupted her.

"It's not any special occasion, and I don't see any reason for you to give me a gift-"

"Just take the box, Kyoko."

Reluctantly, Kyoko took the box and fumbled with it in her hands, unsure of what to do with it.

"Open it," Sho said to stop her fidgeting. As Kyoko opened the lid of the box, her eyes sparkled at the trinket inside. Inside of the box on a small cushion sat a delicate silver charm bracelet with charms to represent all of the famous princesses. Kyoko lightly caressed the ruby rose, a crystal slipper, and a blue fairy before remembering that she was not alone in the room.

"Why did you feel the need to give me this? It's not any special occasion..."

"I know that you like fairytales, so when I saw this, I knew I had to give it to you. I would be very grateful if you would accept it," Sho grinned.

"I feel bad about accepting such an expensive gift, but I wouldn't want to insult you by not accepting it. Thank you so much! I don't know what I can do to repay you," Kyoko said. She smiled at Sho before turning away to go to the kitchen and cook dinner. She didn't manage to catch the smug look on Sho's face towards Ren who had an entirely neutral expression to hide the anger flowing through his veins at Sho's gift. After Kyoko left, Ren mumbled, "I've wondered this whole time how you finally got her to forgive you for treating her as horribly as you did."

"What are you talking about? I didn't hurt her."

"Then who's the one who asked Kyoko to come with him to Tokyo so that he could use her as a personal maid as he sought a singing career?"

"That bastard, Reino, did," Sho said. Ren was surprised at the new information he had learned but didn't show it on his face.

"Now why are you going after _my_ Kyoko, Tsuruga?" Sho asked.

"She is not _your_ Kyoko. It's not like you're married to her, Fuwa," Ren responded.

"Well you aren't anymore either," Sho smirked. Ren's mouth gaped open. Did Sho know why Ren had been brought back two years into the past? He needed to test his theory out.

"Well if I was still married to her like I was before some curse brought me to this place where no one remembers my wife and I getting married, then I would surely treat her with more respect as a person than you ever could. I would never throw away such an amazing lady as Kyoko, not like _someone else_ I know," Ren tried to rile up Sho. Sho took the bait as he blurted, "I didn't know that this transformation was hiding inside her this whole time! She never showed me this badass side of hers when she lived with me as a child! I would have never thrown her away if she had been like this from the start!"

"Oh? So you did know her when you were children?" Ren asked. Sho froze, having accidentally revealed his past after getting aggravated by Ren.

"If my suspicions are correct, you're the reason why my wife is no longer in my arms," Ren said before putting on a murderous aura which made Sho's throat feel tight as if it was being strangled. " _What the hell did you do, Fuwa?"_ Ren demanded with his Demon Lord in full force.

Sho was scared by Ren's aura, but still ignorantly tried to go up against him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It seems like you are too ignorant to even know what someone in love will go through to get their lover back. I ask you again, what did you do?" Ren glared.

"I have no idea! If I knew what I had did to land in this screwed-up timeline, then I would have tried to land in a situation where Kyoko was already in love with me! Now, I'm stuck in this stupid world where I have to build up an entirely new relationship with her! I wished I would have another chance with her, but this is just annoying!"

Before Ren could respond, Kyoko entered the room again, having not heard their conversation at all since she had been cooking dinner and did not want to eavesdrop and be impolite. She carried in a tray of tea, coming to serve her guests. As she entered the room though, she suddenly stumbled on one of the floorboards and started to fall. She desperately tried to prevent the tea cups from spilling even though it was already hopeless, not caring one second about her own well being. Sho watched with his mouth gaped open as Ren immediately ran towards the scene to catch Kyoko and break her fall, the tea splashing onto Sho who cursed and ran to a sink to mollify his burns. Kyoko had closed her eyes when she had sensed her imminent doom but fluttered them open when she realized she hadn't hit the hard floor. She looked to see Ren above her who held her in his arms and had saved her from the fall.

"Ren-san?"

Ren started to unwrap his arms from Kyoko, and supported himself with his elbows on the floor, looking directly into Kyoko's golden orbs with his own emerald orbs hidden behind his brown contacts. He unknowingly reached his hand out to caress her cheek. He really wanted to kiss her, but he knew that he couldn't since she wasn't ready for that yet. He would ruin his whole relationship with her if he leaned in for a kiss now. Surprisingly though, her eyes fluttered shut. He touched her lips to see if he could carry out his original plan, but was shocked when her face contorted in pain

"Ren-san! You're putting all your weight on my legs! Too heavy!"

Ren immediately changed his position so that he wasn't hurting his love and decided to playfully flick Kyoko in the forehead while he was at it. Her eyes flew open to see Ren smirking above her. She instinctively pouted.

"Ren-san! Why did you just flick me on the forehead?" Kyoko pouted.

"You just looked so cute and helpless as you fell, so I instinctively did it," Ren grinned, causing Kyoko to redden at him calling her cute.

"What the hell happened?" Sho asked as he walked back in the room. While Kyoko and Ren had had their moment, he had run to the kitchen sink to wash the tea off his clothes and soothe the scalding burn of the hot tea on his skin. It had only splashed at his torso, so he had only had to wash his shirt which was currently dripping with water in his hand. He was shirtless. Before Kyoko could turn her head to see Sho's naked body, Ren positioned himself to block her eyesight. "Put a shirt on, Fuwa!" he yelled.

"What? You want me to put on this dripping shirt? I just got hot tea thrown at me and went to wash it off, and now you want me to put on a sopping wet shirt after all of that?"

Ren skillfully took off his jacket while maintaining his blockage of Kyoko's eyesight and threw it at Sho. "At least put this on!"

Sho grumbled to himself before slipping the jacket on. He was immediately pissed off when the jacket almost covered his bottom and the sleeves were too long.

Ren had since gotten off of Kyoko and extended a hand towards her to help her up. She gratefully took his hand and was able to stand up again.

"I'm extremely sorry for drenching you in tea, Sho-kun!" Kyoko bowed. "I'll go get dinner right away before I can mess something up again…" Kyoko walked away with her head bowed in shame.

When Kyoko was out of earshot, Ren continued his conversation with Sho. "The things that selfish people do to get their way..."

"Shut up, Tsuruga! I only made a wish! You're just scared that Kyoko will fall in love with me this time instead," Sho smirked.

"She would never fall in love with you, Fuwa," Ren responded with a glare.

"Well we'll just have to test that theory out now, won't we?" Sho grinned before Kyoko came back in the room carrying dinner. Ren stood up and went to the kitchen to get the dishes that Kyoko hadn't already gotten. The trio sat down, gave thanks for their food, and began to eat. During the meal, no further words were said between Kyoko's two suitors. She tried to converse with both but was powerless in clearing up the dark mood between the two men. Eventually, they finished dinner and Ren and Sho went home, prepared for the next time when they would meet with Kyoko. They would get her to fall in love with them at any cost.

* * *

 **I have no idea if you guys will be mad at me or not for sticking in the Kyoko fall scene in this chapter instead. I hope it wasn't too unnatural, but I needed to give Ren some hope, and this little scene popped into my head. Thank you again for supporting me in this story, and for all of my commenters I'm really grateful. You guys inspire me to write more chapters as quickly as I can.**


	10. 10-Denial

**So I had started writing Lory being a pirate then consulted the manga for stuff about Kuu and came upon the chapter where Lory dresses up as a pirate! The coincidence was really funny. I hope you like this chapter! It's a little short, but I'll try to make up for it next chapter.**

* * *

Little did Kyoko and her two suitors know that a certain okami had been listening in on their entire conversation. She was a light sleeper, and she had woken up when Kyoko had come back home. Careful not to wake her husband and going down to greet Kyoko, she had been surprised when she heard the voices of two men and decided to investigate. She had been confused by their talk about a wish and Ren's wife, but she figured they were probably talking about some drama. The one thing she _did_ pick up from that conversation however, was that those two handsome men were in love with Kyoko.

The next morning, she knew she wanted to talk with Kyoko about her relationship with those two. All she wanted was Kyoko's happiness, but she was also scared about her safety. Kyoko was like a daughter to her, and men in love would do anything to get what they wanted.

Kyoko came down from her room to the kitchen to help the okami prepare breakfast. She decided it was the perfect time to ask her "daughter" about the night before without her husband hearing and taking it out of hand. He would do anything to protect Kyoko, and the okami was scared those two men would come visit while he was polishing his knives.

"Kyoko-chan, did you have someone over last night?"

"Oh! I'm sorry Okami-san! I didn't mean to invite people over without telling you!"

The okami chuckled. "It's fine Kyoko-chan. Your friends are always welcome here. I was just wondering who they were."

"Oh! Next time they come over, I'll introduce them to you. Tsuruga Ren and Fuwa Sho have just recently become friends with me."

"Is there a special reason why they came over yesterday?" The okami questioned.

"Ren-san had asked for me to accompany him to dinner, and I asked Sho-kun to come along too."

"Kyoko-chan! Those two young men must feel horrible right now!" The okami said.

"What do you mean?" Kyoko stopped what she was doing.

"From the sound of it, it looks like they both are in love with you."

"EHHHH?!" Kyoko screamed.

"That's crazy! Why would they be in l- _love_ with me?" Kyoko shouted, not aware that she had just woken up the Taisho with her yelling.

"I've seen many young people in love, Kyoko-chan, and those two young men are in love with you."

"I'm sorry Okami-san, but I just don't think it's true," Kyoko said before the Taisho came into the kitchen and started prepping for the day.

"Just be careful, Kyoko-chan. I don't want to see you getting hurt again like you were before you came to live with us," The okami said before leaving the kitchen to set the table.

Kyoko looked over at the Taisho who was focused on sharpening his knives. He had probably heard the last part of their conversation. But Kyoko wouldn't believe what the Okami had told her. There was no way those two could _love_ her.

…

"Boss? You wanted to see me?"

"Come in, Ren," Lory motioned for his aide to close the door behind Japan's number one actor. Today, Lory was dressed up as a pirate, with a parrot on his shoulder and an eyepatch on his right eye. His office was decorated like the deck of a ship, and his aide was currently swabbing the deck. Ren wasn't too surprised by the president's eccentricity this time. He felt like he had already seen the president use this idea before. Was he running out of ideas now?

"I wanted to ask you about that photo taken of you and my Love Me number one a couple days ago. My team has been working nonstop for the past few days to do damage control. You should have seen what some of the magazines were saying. This is the first time you've ever had so much gossip about you, and everyone was quick to make assumptions for a juicy story. Granted, the photo was pretty innocent, but some tabloids were blowing it way out of proportion," Lory said.

"I'm sorry, Boss. It won't happen again," Ren replied.

"What won't happen again? You going out with Kyoko-chan or getting your picture taken when out with her?"

"I will take extra caution when dining out with Kyoko-san," Ren replied with a straight face.

"Okay, good. I wouldn't want her reputation to be ruined, now would you?"

"No, sir," Ren replied.

"Good! Now the real reason I asked you here was to tell you that Kuu and Julie are coming back to Japan," Lory played with the hook on his left hand.

"What?" Ren let the surprise show on his face. This was the first time history was changing so far compared to the history where he had married Kyoko.

"Kuu was asked to come to do some publicity in Japan about his new international movie, and this time he accepted since he hasn't been back in Japan for a long time. He wanted to check up on you and his other son, and Julie wanted to visit Kyoko-chan since she's heard so much about her," Lory said.

"You've already surpassed your father, you know? You even beat him at his own character in Dark Moon. Not to mention the many other dramas you've done that have won you so many awards and national acclaim. You've been Japan's number one actor for a few years already! You've built up a fanbase that can't be rivaled by any other celebrities in Japan, and you've done it all without the name of your family to help you. Don't you think it's time for you to recognize your parents again as Hizuri Kuon?" Lory asked.

Ren's instinct was to say no, but he stopped his instinct when he realized he was actually able to face the world as Hizuri Kuon again if he wanted to. Kyoko had helped him with his demons, and he had already been planning to reveal himself before getting transported to this world without his wife. Even without her by his side now, he still had her inside of him, giving him hope and determination to go on everyday. He could never truly lose the impact she had had on his life. Maybe he had lost her physically, but her imprint was still there. She had prepared him for this announcement, and he was strong enough now to do it.

"I guess you're correct in that I have garnered the same amount of fame my father had in Japan before he revealed his own identity… But when exactly is he visiting, and for how long?"

"He's visiting in about a month and he'll be here for about two weeks," Lory replied.

"Then can we reveal my identity to the world a couple days before my father has to go back home? That gives me about 5 to 6 weeks. That way I have enough time to tell the people I care about before it's released to the public." Ren asked.

Lory beamed a huge smile. "Of course, Kuon. I'm really proud of you, my boy."

…

After he had left Lory's office, Ren had been swept away by Yashiro to the studio where he was filming his newest movie. He wondered if he had made the right decision. He didn't have Kyoko with him to cheer him on as his wife, but he still felt her presence inside of him, and she would still probably cheer him on as her current self right?

"Okay everyone! We're filming scene 55 today! Twenty minutes before we start!" The director announced as Ren was ushered to his dressing room for that day. As he sat down in the hair and makeup chair, he heard the ladies in the dressing room next door gossiping about the scene for that day.

"I was hoping we would be going on location for this shoot in New York City, but they were able to find a studio in Japan decorated just like the real location," One of the ladies said.

"I know, but at least we took on this movie! Today's the kiss scene between Tsuruga-san and Kiwa-chan's characters! Aren't you excited to watch it?" A second voice said.

"Oh! How I would love to take Kiwa-chan's place right now!" Another voice declared.

Ren didn't think of the scene as that big of a deal. It was just another scene in the movie. This was going to be the most passion-filled kiss scene he had done, but it wouldn't be a problem for him. He had already done it before. As he finished getting on his costume and went to go to his mark, he didn't realize who had just come to watch. The director called action, and he was fully in character, not noticing a certain golden eyed girl watching him with curious eyes.

* * *

 **I love cliffhangers. It seems like I say this every chapter, but I'm sorry for the late update again! I took on some things that have been taking up my time, and I rewrote and rewrote this chapter since I needed to figure out where I was going with this story. Next chapter should be pretty interesting. I'm excited to keep on writing for you guys, and I hope you will support me. Please leave me a review and favorite or follow this story. It really brightens my day to see the support I have on this story.**


	11. 11-Confusion

**I bet you all didn't think I would post another chapter so quickly! The reason for such an early chapter is that I had originally written this chapter before the last chapter, but I had realized things were moving a little too fast for my liking. Also I wanted to give you guys a little present to say sorry about the month wait for last chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter!**

* * *

Kyoko entered the studio where she was filming _Everlasting Youth_. She played the female lead who was the owner of a huge cosmetics company. Power had gone to her head, and she ruled her company with no pity towards her employees until she meets a mysterious man who changes her thinking. The drama chronicles her struggles to fix her wrongdoings and to also figure out the identity of the mysterious man. Today as Kyoko entered the studio, everyone was abuzz about something happening in the studio next door. As Kyoko passed a group of ladies playing her employees, she listened in on their conversation to figure out why everyone was so excited that day.

"Did you hear? Tsuruga Ren's filming part of his new movie next door! Maybe we can go sneak a peek before we start filming!"

"But they probably wouldn't let us in..."

"I know! Let's ask Kyoko-san to let us tag along with her! She's dating him after all."

Kyoko stopped in her tracks. She turned to the group of girls and walked towards them with a pleasant smile on her face. She needed to stop the rumors right then and there. It wouldn't do her friend good to have those rumors ruining his reputation.

"Good morning! I look forward to working with you all today!" Kyoko smiled.

"Good morning Kyoko-san! Have you heard about what's happening in the studio next door? Apparently Tsuruga Ren's filming a critical scene for his new movie!"

"Yeah! You're dating him right, so you probably knew already?"

"Actually I'm just friends with Ren-san," Kyoko replied. Why would they assume she was dating him? He wouldn't date someone so much lower than him in everything...

"You're only friends? That's great! Since you're friends, do you think they would let us all into the set to catch a glimpse of him in action?"

Kyoko wondered what to do. She didn't want to intrude on the filming, but she was also curious to watch Ren act in person. She was still debating her choice when the director burst into the room. She was a Tsuruga Ren fan.

"Everyone! We're going to be starting a little later since everyone's too excited with what's going on next door including me. I'm going to go watch it, so anyone who wants to come can tag along, and anyone who doesn't want to can meet back here ready to film in 45 minutes. Thank you!" The director announced before running towards the exit with a trail of women behind her. Kyoko's choice was made for her. She followed the group of her coworkers until she heard Ren's voice. She squeezed through so that she could see and watched in awe as his scene unfolded.

"Aiko-san! Please wait!" Ren's character shouted across the street at a retreating woman. She paused in her retreat and Ren took the opportunity to run up to her and grab her hand.

"I can't live without you. I know that now. You complete me. You've changed me into a better man. I've been able to forgive myself and better myself with you by myself. I can't imagine you leaving just like that, Aiko-san. I can't bear to leave you. I love you," Ren said before the female lead turned around with tears in her eyes at the heartfelt confession. "Do you mean it?" She asked.

Ren looked into her eyes lovingly and the two shared a passionate kiss that made all the ladies and most men in the room blush at the intensity and emotions behind the kiss. As Kyoko watched Ren's scene she felt her heart fluttering at the prospect of acting opposite him in the future. The kiss made her heart skip a beat, but tugged at her heart. She wanted to be as great of an actor as he was someday.

When the director called cut, everyone clapped at the heartfelt scene they had just witnessed. The actress that had acted alongside Ren swooned. At least she hadn't done that during the filming. Ren thanked everyone, but his eyes landed on a certain auburn haired girl with golden eyes that stared at him in sadness. Ren froze as he realized that Kyoko had just watched that scene. Why was she so sad?

"Kyoko-san!" Ren said as he walked up to her. Unfortunately, his way was blocked by hordes of women asking to be kissed like that. He made a split-second decision and grabbed Kyoko's hand before pulling her to his dressing room. She muttered something under her breath.

"What did you say Kyoko-san? I didn't quite catch it," Ren said before she again muttered the same thing. "Could you say it louder?" Ren repeated.

"I realize that I'll never be able to be as good of an actor as you are..." Kyoko responded.

Ren blinked. That was her reaction to that intense kissing scene he had just did? He had hoped that her heart had skipped a beat at least and that she could finally start to see him as a man.

"I really want to act alongside you someday..." Kyoko mused.

A teasing grin came to Ren's face. "So you're saying that you want to be kissed like that by me?"

"EHHH?!" Kyoko looked bewildered.

"We're friends after all, so all you have to do is ask. Isn't that what friends are for?" Ren grinned.

"Wait, that's not what I meant-" Kyoko started before Ren interrupted her.

"Kyoko-chan. You are the most amazing woman I've ever met. I can't imagine a life without you. I love you," Ren confessed to a frozen Kyoko looking at him like a deer in headlights. He knew he probably should have stopped there, but he couldn't. He was having too much fun. Caressing her cheek with his finger, he slowly brought his face closer to hers. He could tell she was too surprised to do anything in retaliation, so at the last second he turned his head and kissed her cheek. As he backed away, he tried to hold in his laughter at her new expression. It was a mix between confusion and horror. Pretty much the reaction he expected. He would count down the seconds until she screamed. 1. 2. 3.

"PLAYBOY!" Kyoko shrieked.

"What do you mean, Kyoko-chan? Did you want one on the lips instead?" Ren asked with an innocent look.

"Stop teasing me, Ren-san! I need to go film," Kyoko said with her face as red as a tomato.

"I hope to see you soon, Kyoko-san," Ren replied as she quickly exited his dressing room. He chuckled.

A few minutes after she was gone, he thought about how he was going to tell her that he was Kuon. He didn't think they had met earlier as Corn and Kyoko since they apparently had had no interaction before he had woken up in this world. At least this time he only had one secret to tell her instead of two, right?

...

As Kyoko exited Ren's dressing room, she was mobbed by a group of ladies accusing her of stealing Ren from them. She barged through them and practically ran back to her own set to the safety of her own dressing room.

What had just happened?

Kyoko didn't know what she was feeling at that moment. Ren had sent her heart beating at miles a minute as he had gotten closer and closer to her face. She had been confused as to what he was doing, and she only realized after he had kissed her cheek. And what was with the feeling she had had when she watched him act? She felt hurt. She had concluded that the hurt was caused by the feeling that she would never be as good of an actor as he was. There was no other explanation.

She wasn't sure how she would face Ren the next time she saw him for some reason. He had confused her. She needed to understand what was happening to herself. Kyoko dialed Kanae's number, and her usual peppy greeting to Kanae had a serious undertone.

"Moko-san?" Kyoko said.

"Wait are you okay? Why didn't you scream "MOKO-SANNNN" into my ear like you usually do?

"Can we talk? I need to talk to you about something important," Kyoko said.

"My schedule's full tonight of things I can't get out of, but I can meet with you tomorrow morning in the Love Me room…" Kanae said, knowing that whatever Kyoko needed to talk about, it was urgent.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Moko-san," Kyoko hung up the call.

"Actors! On set for episode 8 scene 3!"

Kyoko dug the Corn stone out of her purse to give her motivation to get through the day. She briefly thought about Corn and wondered how he was doing, but then thought of Guam and when he had kissed her. Apparently this did even more harm to her current mental state than help it. She took a deep breath as she got into character and slipped the stone back in its purse to keep it safe.

…

The next morning, all was quiet in LME. Kyoko was up early and already waiting in the Love Me room for Kanae. Everyone went about their day like they would any other, but no one noticed the looming threat with silver hair that had just appeared through the front doors heading towards the Love Me section to meet an unsuspecting golden-eyed victim.

* * *

 **And another cliffhanger! I was planning the Reino encounter since the beginning, and we've finally gotten to a point where I can get it in! I read that comment about Reino not showing up from Guest, and I smiled to myself since I had already written it in. It looks like we both thought it was about time for him to show up.**

 **Also I just want to clarify, since I'm not sure if I explained it enough, that Ren has met Kyoko as Corn at 10 years old in Kyoto like canon and the whole Guam thing has happened too. He just doesn't know that yet, so he will think that he doesn't have that connection to her until he finds out later. Hopefully this lack of knowledge doesn't bite him in the back…**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Review, favorite, follow, and all of that. I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	12. 12-Reino is Back

**Here's the long awaited chapter where Reino finally appears! I hope you enjoy it! I'm really sorry for slow updates, and I'll try to speed them up after this week, but I've been super busy with almost zero time to write recently.** **Thank you for supporting this story for 12 chapters so far! I love reading all of your comments, and I'm really happy that this story has so many followers!**

* * *

Kyoko arrived almost an hour earlier at LME than when she had agreed to meet with Kanae the day before. Thus, Kanae probably wasn't there yet, so Kyoko would have to wait a while until she came. She immediately went to the Love Me room so that she would be in there when Kanae arrived. Kyoko didn't notice, however, that someone had been following her.

Reino stopped outside the door of the Love Me section with a wicked smile on his face. He discreetly entered the room as Kyoko's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and was surprised at the caller, though she still picked up.

"Sho-kun? Why did you call me?"

"I wanted to ask if you were at LME right now. I had a meeting with another singer for a collaboration here, and I know you work for LME too," Sho said as he relaxed on a sofa in the LME lobby.

"Oh! I'm in the Love Me room right now, but I can come meet you-"

Reino who had snuck up behind her grabbed her phone out of her hand. "She won't be able to see you today," he said before hanging up the call. Kyoko turned around with a glare and snatched her phone back.

"Reino..." Kyoko said with an aura full of malice and hate for the silver haired intruder.

"Missed me?" Reino asked with an evil grin.

...

Sho looked in horror down at his phone. He had to find Kyoko and fast if she was with the Beagle. Who knew what Reino would do this time? He immediately jumped off the sofa he had been reclining on in the lobby and went to the information desk.

"Can you tell me where I can find the Love Me room?" He asked, urgency present in his voice.

The receptionist pointed to the elevator and gave him the directions. Sho mumbled a quick thanks before bolting down towards that direction, hoping that he would get there in time to save Kyoko.

...

Ren half-heartedly thanked the interviewer before walking off the set towards his manager. The interviewer had asked him some uncomfortable questions about his love life and his personal life, so he had constantly been dodging her attempts at getting under his skin. Yashiro handed him a water bottle with a curious expression but waited until they had gotten into Ren's car before saying anything.

"That interviewer asked you a question about how you parents reacted to your popularity, but why did you lie about it? I had thought that they were not in your life anymore with how Lory introduced me to you. Now come to think of it, I don't even know who your parents are or where you came from," Yashiro said.

Ren sighed. He had made up some lie about his parents, saying they didn't follow the media and didn't know how popular he was in Japan and quickly had gotten the interviewer to move onto another question. Of course he couldn't tell the truth to the world just yet, but he could've at least told a partial truth. He loved his parents, and he really missed talking to them. He felt horrible when he had to deny them being his parents in front of the entire world. "I lied to the interviewer about my parents because I can't tell anyone who they really are," Ren said, thinking now was as good a time to tell Yashiro about his big secret. Yashiro would have to prepare for major damage control after his press release, so he could at least let his manager know the truth beforehand.

"Why would the identities of your parents be such a big deal? Are you the son of a Japanese yakuza or something? Or wait! Don't tell me you're a prince of some small island country!" Yashiro joked.

Ren took a deep breath. "My real name is Hizuri Kuon," he said.

Yashiro's smile fell off his face and was replaced by surprise then disbelief. "No, there's no way I could have been working with my favorite actor Hizuri Kuu's son this whole time. Nice try, Ren, but you can't fool me."

"It's true, Yukihito. How else do you want me to prove it to you?" Ren asked.

" _Do you want me to speak English?"_ Ren said in English in his Californian accent. Yashiro's jaw dropped at how perfect Ren's English was. Only natives spoke that well. Now that he looked at Ren, he could picture him with blond hair just like Kuu. The similarity between the two would be uncanny if they weren't related. What seemed so preposterous a second ago now made perfect sense to Yashiro.

"I knew there was no way you were fully Japanese, but I can't believe you never told me who you really were!" Yashiro said.

"I'm sorry for the secrecy, Yukihito, but this secret is one only Boss, Mom, Dad, Jelly-San, and I have known up until now."

"Well your secret is definitely safe with me, Ren. Or is it Kuon?" Yashiro asked.

Ran cringed as he heard his real name being used again. It would still take some getting used to, but he had to accept it eventually. "Just Ren is fine for now."

"Then, Ren, how many people have you told this secret to so far?"

"Only you so far, Yukihito," Ren replied.

"I'm flattered that you would tell me this secret first before anyone else, but don't you think you should tell Kyoko-chan soon too? She would definitely be accepting of you! And aren't you trying to win her affections? A good relationship can't start out with secrets."

"I'll tell her soon. I just need to find the right time," Ren sighed, nervous for when he would have to tell Kyoko his secret. Hopefully it would go over better than the first time he had done it. She had run away when she had found out he had hidden being Corn from her, and she hadn't spoken to him for weeks after that. It wasn't until Yashiro and Kanae had pushed them to make up that they finally got back together. At least he wouldn't have to tell her he was Corn this time, so she would probably be accepting of his true identity this time.

"You better tell her soon, you lovesick fool. Well at least you've given me enough time to prepare for this announcement. I'll talk with the president about how to handle it later in more detail. Now let's get to your 4 PM shoot," Yashiro smiled, happy that he was close enough to Ren that Ren felt comfortable revealing more of his true self to his manager. He wanted to believe they were more than coworkers, and this truly made him believe that they were close enough now to call each other friends.

…

As Kyoko's murderous aura grew, Reino wrapped a string of beads around his arm and took a few of her grudge demons captive. She was too angry to notice, and these prisoners would come in handy later if he ever had to blackmail her again. Once Reino had taken his prisoners, he locked them away in a small bird cage hooked to his belt and grabbed her arm, making her unable to move.

"I love how much your hate towards that guy is now directed towards me. This world is very amusing to me. Much more amusing than the real world where you find your happily ever after with that demon," Reino grinned.

"What the hell are you talking about, Beagle! Why are you here?!" Kyoko yelled.

"If I can get us to stay in this world where you have the largest place in your heart for me, then that little fairy's scheme wouldn't work and both of us could be together forever instead," Reino whispered as he took the opportunity to start unzipping the front of Kyoko's Love Me uniform as she was rendered frozen by his presence. He was able to completely unzip it, pushing it off her shoulders so it fell onto the floor in a heap around her legs. At this point, she was only in a tank top and shorts.

Just then, Sho burst through the door and whacked Reino's hand away from Kyoko while drawing her closer to him instead. Reino laughed.

"Of course _you_ would stop me again! But you won't be able to have her. You may think that the competition's only between you and that actor, but I will win. This world is the most fun I've had in all eternity, and I will not let you two take her away from me. I'll leave now since I already got what I came for. Next time I come for her though, you won't be so lucky as to save her," Reino said before he cast a smirk their way and left the Love Me room.

As Sho looked at Kyoko in his arms, he expected to see tears in her eyes. What he didn't expect to see was the murderous intent she directed to the door Reino exited from. After a few seconds, she came to her senses and grabbed her discarded Love Me uniform off the floor, quickly zipping it back up. She sighed heavily.

"Thanks for the help, Sho-kun. That Beagle thinks he can just waltz back into my life whenever he wants and go on about me being his and this world being the best world whatever that means," Kyoko bowed formally to Sho.

"Wait here for a second. I need to talk to that bastard," Sho said as he ran out the Love Me door towards the direction where Reino had left. Reino turned around as Sho approached and smiled maliciously.

"What a pleasant surprise. You followed me! Are you going to beat me up again like last time?"

"What the hell were you talking about back there? Do you know about another world?" Sho demanded.

"Oh that? You probably know already that this world is a fake. A world created from a wish. You and that actor were the only ones supposed to retain their real memories, but I have a medallion that protects me from fairy curses. I didn't expect Kyoko to hate me so much, but it's great! She hates me with all of her heart just like she hated you before, and now you only occupy a minuscule part of her heart. Who would want to go back to that other world where that actor is married to her?"

"How do you know we'll go back to that world? From what I've learned, there's pretty much no way to go back! We're stuck here!" Sho exclaimed.

"I wouldn't come to that conclusion just yet. There's always a way to break a fairy's curse, but I won't tell you how. I'll make sure we stay in this glorious world, and you won't be able to stop me," Reino grinned as Sho froze in place, unable to move due to a mysterious force holding him back. Reino laughed evilly as he walked towards the doors of LME, disappearing from sight. After a few seconds, Sho was finally able to move again and decided to go and comfort Kyoko instead of pursuing Reino further. As he approached the door of the Love Me room however, he stopped as he heard two girls' voices on the other side of the door. He leaned his head against the door and decided to eavesdrop after he heard Kyoko's next words."EHHHH? There's no way that he could love me!"

* * *

 **I wonder if you guys expected that little twist about Reino? Maybe you guys can figure out how the fairy's wish can be broken too?**

 **I know lots of you might be mad that Ren told Yashiro first about being Kuon instead of Kyoko, but he'll tell her soon so don't worry. We'll see if she takes it as well as Yashiro did...**


	13. 13-Unbelievable Obliviousness

**Hey! I really do want to finish this fic soon by updating quicker, and I feel like getting closer and closer to the end! I've outlined the plot all the way to the conclusion now, and I'm really excited to share the rest of this fic with you all! I really want to thank you all for supporting this fic this far! At the time of writing this chapter, there are 34 followers, 31 reviews, and 17 favorites on _Timeless Affections_. Thank you to those who have supported me from the beginning and those who have recently started to. I hope you enjoy this chapter of _Timeless Affections_!**

* * *

A few moments after Sho had left Kyoko alone in the Love Me room, Kanae had entered. Kyoko had forgotten why she had come to LME so early since she had met with Reino, but the memories of Ren kissing his costar and then her own cheek right after came flooding back as she gazed upon Kanae. She was so confused as to what she was feeling, and she was so glad that her best friend was finally there to help her through it.

"Mo! Have you been okay? What was with that call yesterday?" Kanae said with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Moko-san, I'm just so confused right now," Kyoko said with her eyes glazed over as she stared at a spot on the floor.

"Does this have to do with Tsuruga-san?" Kanae frowned, remembering her previous talk with the actor and his declaration of love.

"Eh? How did you know about that?" Kyoko asked, her head immediately snapping up to make eye contact with Kanae. As Kanae was able to see Kyoko's eyes, she started to seethe with anger as she saw tears in her best friend's eyes.

"What did he do to you?"

"I saw him acting out a romantic scene with his costar, then afterwards he teased me and kissed my cheek. I just don't understand why he did it." Kyoko said.

Kanae sighed. She didn't want to help Ren by telling Kyoko of his feelings, but she also had a duty to her best friend to help her through this confusion. She wanted to hurt that pretty boy for hurting her best friend. She wouldn't let him have her. Kanae truly loved having Kyoko as her best friend, and she would help her friend in any way possible. Unfortunately for Kanae, the best way to help Kyoko was to tell her the truth. It would solve any more complications, and she could make a decision after she knew.

"Are you sure he's not in love with you?" Kanae asked, causing Kyoko to immediately redden to the shade of a tomato.

"EHHHH? Th-there's no w-way that he could l-lo-ve me!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Why would he like a plain and boring girl like me? Not to mention he's the number one male celebrity in Japan! Almost every girl in Japan is in love with him! I'm like a little kid compared to most of the ladies who throw themselves at him! And also, we're just friends!" Kyoko replied instantly.

"Then what would you do if he confessed to you?"

"EHHH?! That would never happen! And even if it did, then I don't have feelings of love for him!"

Little did the two girls know that Fuwa Sho had been listening in on their entire conversation. He smirked as he heard her opinion on Ren and decided he was done eavesdropping since this was pure gold already, and he wanted to go rub it in that pretty boy's face. Sho walked away happily, telling himself that Ren stood no chance now.

"I can't love anyone after Reino threw me away," Kyoko added as her aura darkened as she thought of the silver-haired creep.

"Fine. Then what's the problem with Tsuruga-san kissing you on the cheek?" Kanae asked.

"He was making me feel weird! When he did it, my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest!" Kyoko whined. Kanae raised a curious eyebrow. To her, it sounded like Kyoko was actually in love Ren as well, but Kanae was too annoyed with Kyoko's obliviousness to help her anymore. She had already done all she could for her friend without outright stating Ren's feelings to her. At least now Kyoko's mood seemed to have improved.

"Mo! I'm done talking with you! You're too dense for your own good!" Kanae huffed, leaving the room quickly. Kyoko stared at the door, wondering what Kanae had meant by her being dense.

...

As Sho walked back out into the LME lobby, he spotted his number one enemy. Ren and his manager were being mobbed by a group of ladies, but the girls parted as Sho approached them. He smiled at them and asked if he could talk to Ren privately. The ladies swooned from being talked to by Fuwa Sho, and immediately allowed him his wish. Only Ren's manager stood next to him now, and Sho didn't care about that spectacled nobody.

"You'll lose against me this time, Tsuruga," Sho smirked.

"What are you talking about, Fuwa-san?"

"She was harassed by that bastard Beagle and guess who saved her? Not you," Sho smirked while casting a superior glare at the actor.

"I also heard her say to her best friend that if you confessed to her then she would turn you down since she doesn't love you. It looks like you're out of the running for her heart already. Don't worry though because I'll make sure I take good care of her heart," Sho smiled. Ren and his manager's faces whitened, but Ren quickly put on his gentlemanly smile.

"What did you say, Fuwa-san?" Ren smiled, trying to keep his composure

"You heard me," Sho replied.

"Why should I even believe what you're saying, Fuwa?" Part of Ren's mask slipped, letting his pissed off eyes have one glare at Sho.

"Just ask Kyoko when you see her next time," Sho smirked as he turned on his heel and walked away. Ren frowned. He resolved to not let Fuwa's words affect his day, and he set out with his manager to his office.

…

Ren was down in the dumps. Over the past week, every time he had seen Kyoko, she had avoided him. Even though she had resolved to forget about the memories of the Ren's kisses, they still affected her no matter how much she tried to get rid of them. She knew she was being inconsiderate by avoiding Ren, but she would repulsively avoid him every time she saw him.

Her actions had caused Ren to wonder if he really had overdone it by kissing her cheek that day. He started to let Sho's words affect him, thinking that maybe she knew of his feelings and was just trying to avoid him so that she didn't have to reject him.

It wasn't until almost 2 weeks later that he had finally been able to talk with her. He had seen her in a crowd of people, and they had made eye contact. She had tried to walk away quickly almost like a bunny, but his longer strides had allowed him to catch up with her like a tiger pouncing on its prey. She had tried to veer into the women's restroom, but he had caught her before she could. He put a sparkly smile on his face.

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

Kyoko looked up at her senpai's face and cringed from how bright his smile was. She felt extremely guilty, but she decided to try acting like she didn't know what he was talking about.

"What do you mean, Ren-san?"

"Kyoko-san," Ren smiled his 1000 watt smile, making Kyoko's lip quiver in fear.

"I'm sorry!" Kyoko wailed, unable to be pierced by Ren's knowing gaze anymore.

…

Kyoko and Ren had walked over to a more secluded hallway to continue their talk after they had realized how people were staring at them.

"You shouldn't apologize for avoiding me. I should apologize for making you uncomfortable before," Ren admitted.

"No! It's okay! Let's just forget it ever happened! Just don't do it again!" Kyoko said, sending darts of pain shooting through Ren's heart.

"Oh! I've wanted to ask you, are you going to go to the Japanese Academy Awards? I've been nominated for the award for outstanding performance of an actress in a supporting role for the role of Momiji!" Kyoko smiled.

"That's great, Kyoko-san! I probably will also be there since I've been nominated for best actor," Ren replied with a smile, remembering how Kyoko _had_ won the award. They had gone to the awards show as dates the last time, and he had tried to burn her beautiful smile when she accepted that award into his memory.

"That's great, Ren-san! I hope to see you there!" Kyoko smiled.

"Actually Kyoko-san, would you be interested in attending the awards with me?" Ren asked, hoping that she would say yes.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to be seen walking in with a lowly actress such as myself-"

"Kyoko-san. Please don't keep insinuating that I'm on a pedestal higher than yours. I know for a fact that you're one of the top ten actresses in Japan, so don't keep saying that I'm so much better. I've seen your acting, and it is equal in skill to if not even better than my own," Ren said sincerely.

"So will you go with me to the Japanese Academy Awards?" Ren begged with his puppy dog eyes. As Kyoko gazed upon his cute look, she tried to resist it, but she ended up giving in anyways as Ren's puppy dog eyes were too strong for her to say no to.

"Fine! I will! Just stop looking at me like that! That look should be illegal!" Kyoko exclaimed to Ren's delight. He smiled a true, brilliant, shining smile. Until she crushed his spirit with her next words again. "But I'll make sure everyone knows we're just going as friends!"

"Then I'll pick you up next Friday from the Darumaya and we can have dinner together after the awards," Ren smiled, trying not to show his irritation on her insistence of them being only friends on his face.

"That would be great! I'll see you then, Ren-san!" Kyoko waved goodbye to him as she set out towards where her bike was parked and Ren set out towards his car.

Ren was both excited and nervous for that night. He was going to tell her everything that night. With her avoidance of him the past couple weeks, he only had 2 more weeks until Lory would tell her instead. He had resolved, however, to tell her after the awards show. He just hoped it would go over well.

...

As Kyoko exited from her school on Monday, she realized everyone was whispering about a car parked at the front of the school.

"Oh my gosh! Sho-chan came here to see me!" Mimori cried out.

As Kyoko walked closer to the entrance of school, Sho waved to her and approached her, much to the other girls' dismay.

"Hey, Kyoko, I was just wondering if you would like to go out for ice cream or something," Sho put his hands in his pockets like a teenager afraid to ask out the girl he likes.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you-"

"Please? I don't care if it's inconvenient since I really just want to treat you to ice cream," Sho said since he remembered one of Kyoko's favorite treats were ice cream. He had just really wanted to see her and had impulsively come to her school.

"Oh! Then, sure! I love ice cream!" Kyoko smiled, making Sho's heart skip a beat. He hadn't seen her smile to him for such a long time, that this smile made his heart flutter. Sho opened her door and waited until she was in before closing it behind her. He looked up to see a crying Mimori and felt a twang of guilt for a second as he pictured Kyoko looking like that due to his outings with other girls years ago. He quickly realized it was only Pochi though and drove off, trying to erase her crying face from his memory.

* * *

 **I don't really know what to put at the end of the chapter, so I guess I'll just say that we're getting closer and closer to another manga update! Hopefully Ren resolves that photo and white day gift soon since the audition arc is finally over. I wish that updates were quicker and moved the plot along quicker, but alas this is what the Skip Beat! community has to suffer. I just want Kyoko and Ren to get together and the manga to end, but at the same time I don't want Skip Beat! to end. I know that that's paradoxical, but does anyone else feel similar?**


	14. 14-Ice Cream and Parents

**I became pretty down after releasing last chapter since right after I released it saying how grateful I was for your guys' support, someone unfavorited my story. I also didn't get any reviews for a while, so that also added to my slump. Nevertheless, I enjoy this story, so I wrote this chapter pretty quickly after that happened since I didn't want to let these events damper my writing. After waiting a while, a lot of you guys sent me reviews, and it made me really happy and made me reflect on my slump earlier as being unneccesary. I ended up getting a massive urge to write this story, so I wrote out most of the remaining chapters already during a long writing session! I'm going to try to update regularly from this point on for this story! My plan is to update weekly every Sunday until this story comes to an end, so I hope that this update schedule works out. I'm super excited to unveil the remaining parts of this story to you all, so enjoy this chapter of _Timeless Affections!_**

* * *

"What flavor would you like to get?"

Kyoko looked excitedly at the large display of ice cream flavors that she could choose from. She always loved getting ice cream with her friends!

"Could I get a cake cone with chocolate please?" Kyoko politely asked. As Sho got a regular scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cup, she reached for her wallet before she realized Sho was already at the register.

"Oh no, Sho-kun! I can pay for my cone!"

Sho moved out of the way to let her pay for her cone and realized his mistake when she paid for both of theirs. He felt guilty since he realized now that he was so used to her paying for his things. He should have just paid for both of their ice creams! For everything that Kyoko had done for him, he couldn't even pay for her ice cream like a gentleman? He really needed to pay more attention to these things. The pair sat down at a table in the corner just in case anyone could look through their hats and sunglasses to recognize the famous celebrities eating ice cream together.

"I want to try some chocolate too," Sho said as he used his spoon to grab a taste of Kyoko's ice cream cone. She blushed as he brought the spoon to his lips and licked it clean. Wasn't that like an indirect kiss? If that counted, then she had already let a total of three men kiss her already! She felt like she was well on her path to being an easy girl and started to panic on the inside. As she caught Sho stealing a confused glance at her, she tried to eat her ice cream with a neutral expression as she schooled her previous expression. Sho laughed as she pulled away from a lick with a drop of ice cream left on her cheek

"You got a little something here," Sho said as he wiped the ice cream on her cheek off with his thumb and brought it to his lips. As he touched her cheek, she was reminded of Ren's kiss there. This caused her to blush again, and Sho enjoyed her flustered look. He inwardly gloated towards Ren that he was able to make Kyoko blush so easily, not knowing that he really wasn't the cause for her blush this time.

Kyoko shook the thought of Ren out of her head. Why was he invading her thoughts so much recently? She didn't even think of Kanae as much as she thought of him!

Sho was still laughing at Kyoko's flustered look when she came out of her thoughts. She smiled wickedly before using her index finger to take a glob off her ice cream and put a drop of it on Sho's nose. She laughed as he appeared flustered and tried to wipe it off. He then looked at her with a maniacal grin as he used his own finger to use his ice cream to draw war paint on her cheeks. They continued the food fight for a while until they caught the confused stares that the patrons around them had been giving the couple. They both cleaned up their faces and proceeded to exit the ice cream shop.

"Ah! That was fun! You're really childish sometimes, you know? But that's also a good thing since I haven't had a food fight like that in forever!" Kyoko smiled. Sho felt a bit embarrassed at Kyoko's statement. Technically he was older than her by a few months, but she had always acted more mature than he had. There were times when he felt like a child in comparison to her. She had went through things he could never begin to imagine, including his treatment of her prior to her declaration of revenge. He could never begin to imagine the hurt he had caused her, but now he had finally realized that what he did was wrong. He had hurt her even after knowing her previous experiences with abandonment. He had become grouped into that list of people who abandoned her, and he had given her scars that would never heal. Did he really deserve Kyoko's love after all that he had done to hurt her?

Suddenly, Kyoko's phone rang, shaking Sho out of his thoughts. She shook wildly as it vibrated in her pocket, and she immediately answered when she realized it was Sawara-san calling. She mouthed a quick sorry to Sho before answering.

"Moshi moshi," Kyoko answered.

"Ah! Mogami-san! I was calling you to tell you that the president has requested for you to meet him to get briefed on a Love Me job. He said that you've done this kind of job before, so you would be able to do it again. Could you come meet President Takarada in an hour?" Sawara-san asked.

"Sure! I'll come there straight away!" Kyoko replied. After saying her goodbyes to Sawara-san, she resumed the walk with Sho to his car. On the way there, Sho talked all about his new and upcoming album. Kyoko who wasn't primarily interested in music, politely smiled at him as he spoke with passion about his craft. After getting into his car, they began driving to the LME building. They quickly arrived at LME since the ice cream shop had been close by, so the two said their goodbyes before Kyoko entered the building to meet the president.

Sho couldn't stop smiling as he thought of their childish food fight earlier. It had been so long since he had been able to spend some time with her like this. The last time they had spent some time like this together was before he was famous and when he was just getting started out as a musician with Akatoki. Sho thought back to his treatment of Kyoko after he had gotten famous. He knew that she had waited for him to come home every night, but he hadn't wanted to spend time with her since she wasn't famous like the other girls throwing themselves at him. Why would he want to be with her? He had become spoiled by her presence, and he thought that she would always be by his side no matter how badly he treated her. Never had he thought that she would be there that fateful day when he was flirting with Shoko. When she had thrown her declaration of revenge on him, he had laughed. His pride had gone to his head. He thought he could live without her now since he had already broken out into the industry. So many of his fangirls would have died to be in her position. So she had left, and he had started to regret ever letting her go. It wasn't the same with the other girls around him. No one knew him as well as she did. He had to keep his public persona on in front of them. No one encouraged him to get better like she did. He had started to wonder if he would really be content with just becoming the number one male celebrity in Japan. Who would be by his side when that accomplished his goal?

Sho had really started to regret ever letting Kyoko go. He should have cherished her, but now the only way he could get her back was through this alternate world created from his selfish wish. He kept telling himself that she would be much happier if she was with him than that platform-wearing actor, but he was starting to doubt himself. Could he truly give Kyoko the happiness she deserved?

…

Kyoko walked into the president's office, already used to his eccentric tendencies to cosplay every single day. Today Lory was dressed like a visual kei artist, much to Kyoko's amusement after her recent encounter with Sho.

"Ah! Kyoko-chan!" Lory greeted her.

"Good afternoon, Takarada-san," Kyoko responded politely.

"I think that you'll really like this next LoveMe assignment," Lory smiled knowingly.

"Sawara-san told me over the phone that I've had a similar assignment in the past?"

"Yes, you have. I would like for you to assist me in picking up some VIPs from the airport tonight and making sure their stay in Japan is delightful," Lory responded.

"Oh! So it's just like when Father was here! Who are the VIPs?" Kyoko asked excitedly. Lory only grinned in response.

...

"Father!" Kyoko yelled as she saw Kuu walk out of the airport with Julie on his arm. He turned towards her voice and flashed her a beaming smile. She quickly ran out to help Kuu and Julie through the crowd of fans to an LME-appointed car. As the two Americans got into the car, Kyoko quickly climbed in after them and the three sped away to the lavish hotel where Julie and Kuu were staying.

"It's so nice to see you again, Kuon!" Kuu beamed.

"I'm so happy to see you again too, Father!" Kyoko smiled back.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person, Kyoko-chan! I've heard so much about you from Kuu! I'm Julie!" Julie extended her hand as Kyoko shook it.

"Wow! You're so beautiful Hizuri-san!" Kyoko said before Julie glared at her.

"Oh no, there will be no 'Hizuri-san'. You already call Kuu father, so why don't you call me mother? I've always wanted a daughter like you," Julie smiled.

"Really?" Kyoko asked with tears in her eyes at how nice Julie was being to her.

"Please do!" Julie smiled.

"Okay then, Mother!" Kyoko responded with a brilliant smile.

...

As a bellhop opened the door to the Hizuris' hotel room, Kyoko gaped in awe at the ginormous presidential suite they were staying in.

"How can Kidnapper-kun let you wear such a horrid outfit as your uniform everyday?!" Julie asked Kyoko when she noticed her Love Me uniform.

"What do you mean? The front is super stylish with this Love Me logo!" Kyoko said, showing off her Love Me uniform.

"I know exactly what I want to do tomorrow! Let's go shopping for some clothes for Kyoko-chan!" Julie exclaimed as she happily bounced off to the master bedroom to get ready for the night. They had gotten a later flight to Japan, so it was already after dinner time. Kuu chuckled and followed her, leaving Kyoko to go to her own guest bedroom. Lory had insisted that she spend a couple nights with her 'parents' at their hotel room and had already had her night amenities sent to their hotel room prior. After she had finished taking a shower and had gotten into bed, she was startled by her door suddenly creaking open.

"Kyoko-chan? Are you still up?" Julie whispered as her head popped in. As she spotted the girl staring at her in horror, she softly shut the door behind her and sat next to Kyoko on the bed.

"I'm sorry for startling you. I just wanted to see if you were up for a talk so we could get to know each other better! I've never been able to have girl talk with a daughter before, and I would love to get to know you," Julie smiled.

"Of course, Mother! That would be amazing! I love girl talk!" Kyoko exclaimed. She flung off the covers to sit up and face Julie.

"I've heard so much about you from Kuu! He said that you're quite the budding actress! I've dabbled in acting myself a couple times, but I've found that I'm more interested in my modeling and fashion design," Julie said.

"You're a fashion designer and model?! That's so cool! I've always wanted to try modeling, but I'm afraid I'm not cut out for it since I'm too plain and boring," Kyoko sighed.

"Why would you not be cut out for it? You have a great figure! And don't say that you're plain and boring! I have no idea why you would think that, but you are the least plain and boring girl I've met! Who told you that you were those things?" Julie asked angrily. Kyoko started to relay her history with Reino to Julie which in turn led to her talking about the beginnings of her acting career leading up to the present time.

"I've even been nominated for best supporting actress at the Japanese Academy Awards for my portrayal of Momiji! Oh! That reminds me! I need to go buy a dress for the awards show! I can't let Ren-san be seen entering with a poorly dressed actress," Kyoko finished.

"Dress shopping? Don't worry, I can help you with that tomorrow! We can go to the mall and I guarantee that I'll find you the perfect dress!" Julie smiled.

"So you're attending the show with Tsuruga Ren? I didn't know that you knew him so well!" Julie added. She knew that her son had fallen for this girl, and she was determined to find out if she felt the same during her stay in Japan.

"Ren-san and I met pretty recently. It's a funny story," Kyoko smiled as she thought of Ren.

"I was just minding my business in LME one day when he came up to me and said that I was his wife. I was really confused why Tsuruga Ren, who I had never talked to before, would suddenly come up to me saying that! He cleared up the misunderstanding, saying that he had been confused. After that, I found out that he usually doesn't eat nutritious meals, so I started accompanying him to lunch and learned more about him. We became friends, then..." Kyoko said before she remembered the kiss incident. She blushed furiously, trying to hide it from Julie as her heart started beating rapidly.

"Then what?" Julie prompted.

"Umm..." Kyoko still tried to soothe her blush.

"You can tell me anything, honey."

"Well recently he's gotten more relaxed around me I guess? I've learned that his public persona is much different than who he really is. I mean he's really an extraordinary actor, but he's actually a really big tease and acts like a playboy at times. He even k-kissed me on the cheek once as a joke," Kyoko stammered.

"Hm? Are you saying that Tsuruga Ren is one to easily kiss other girls?"

"He's not like that! I'm sorry, I've ruined his image by saying that."

"Oh? So you're saying he only does those things to you," Julie responded. Her smile widened as she saw Kyoko's blush intensify.

"See? He even asked you to be his date to the awards ceremony! Don't you know what that means, Kyoko-chan? I think he's in love with you," Julie said, causing Kyoko to shriek.

"NO! That's not possible!"

"What about you confront him about it tomorrow? I have to make a short stop at a photo shoot for my spring line of clothing to oversee things, and I've heard Tsuruga-san will also be modeling for RMandy at that studio. We can make a stop there after shopping tomorrow!"

"But-"

"I've really enjoyed talking with you Kyoko-chan! I'll see you tomorrow morning!" Julie said as she got up and went to her own bedroom with Kuu. Kyoko sat on her own bed, dumbfounded. Three. Three people had told her that Ren was in love with her, and now she was getting influenced by their words. What if Ren really did like her? This thought caused her blush to redden even more. She immediately had thoughts of how she would have to turn him down, saying that she was unable to love, but found herself unable to think of breaking his heart like that. She would be lying to herself if she said that Ren had no place in her heart, but what space of her heart did he occupy? Could she really gain back that lost emotion? It had been a couple years since Reino had let her go, and maybe now she was finally healed. Kyoko nodded her head as she made an ultimatum. She would find out if it was true that Ren loved her tomorrow, and from there she could decide what to do.

* * *

 **I'm so excited for the next couple chapters of this story! I hope that the direction that it's going in now is clear and that you guys now can guess the endgame pairing. Please leave me a review, favorite, or follow if you enjoyed this chapter! I would really appreciate it! When you guys leave me reviews, it just makes me so happy that my audience is as engaged in the story as I am.**

 **On another note, when doing research for the next couple chapters of this story by going back to Skip Beat! and rewatching some parts of the anime and rereading some parts of the manga, I found out that kissmanga released the Skip Beat! dub! I'm currently in the middle of watching it, but I have to say that the dub team did a really good job! Hopefully this prompts them to release a season 2 of Skip Beat! anime with how much support the dub had! If I saw Cain and Setsu in the anime, I think my life would be complete.**


	15. 15-Awards Show Heartache

**I hope you enjoy this chapter! I could have split this chapter into two, but I decided to give you guys a long chapter today. Thank you for all your support last chapter!**

 **This chapter, Kyoko learns something that causes her some inner turmoil.**

* * *

"I have a list of interviews to attend today, but have fun shopping together! I hope my wife doesn't tire you out today, Son," Kuu said as the trio finished their breakfast. Kyoko, already finished scrubbing half of the dirty dishes from Kuu alone, responded, "Don't worry, Father! I'm excited to spend the day with Mother!"

As Kuu left for his interviews, Julie and Kyoko finished washing the dishes before heading out to the nearby mall. Upon entering the first store, Julie immediately launched herself at the clothes racks, gathering an armload of dresses in only a few minutes. She hurried Kyoko into the dressing room, waiting outside while the girl changed inside. As Kyoko came out in a short black dress with a low neckline and cuts along the sides akin to a dress that Setsu would wear, Julie immediately shook her head. She knew that this dress didn't fit Kyoko's personality, even if she looked amazing in it. Kyoko tried on ten more dresses, Julie shaking her head to each of them. She decided that this store didn't have the right dress for Kyoko and sprinted Kyoko off to the next store and the next store, trying on dresses until lunchtime.

They had a small break at a cafe after eight unsuccessful stores, Kyoko using the time to relax and rest her sore legs from so much running around in the mall. As soon as they were finished with their lunch however, Julie carted Kyoko off to another store. They came out of the store some time later, empty-handed again. As Julie rushed into the next store, Kyoko approached a wall to relax against it. When she looked around the store, a flash of gold caught her eye. She decided to approach the golden flash to see what is was that she had seen earlier. When she reached the shimmer of gold, she found a dazzling, sleeveless golden gown modeled on a mannequin. Her mouth gaped in awe at the dress's beauty. Julie soon returned to her side with an armful of dresses, but dropped them all as she gazed upon the dress that had caught Kyoko's eye. She immediately flagged over a store attendant to let Kyoko try on the dress. A big smile adorned her face as Kyoko exited the dressing room with the gown on. The dress fit her wonderfully, accenting her naturally golden eyes and showing her gorgeous figure. They had finally found the dress.

Julie immediately went to pay for it with retaliation from Kyoko. "No, Mother! I can buy it! I don't want you to waste your own money on my dress!"

"Nonsense! As a mother, I want to spoil my kid as much as possible! Please let me buy this gown for you!" Julie looked at Kyoko with puppy dog eyes. As Kyoko stared into Julie's eyes she wondered why Julie's and Ren's puppy dog eyes looked so similar. Since they were so similar, it was to Kyoko's dismay that she found herself unable to resist Julie's puppy dog eyes like she couldn't resist Ren's.

"O-okay then. If it makes you happy-"

"Yes! Thank you!" Julie hugged her as the store attendant wrapped up the gown. Kyoko returned the hug, a smile gracing her features. After the dress was wrapped up, the pair were picked up by Lory's personal driver who would deliver the clothes to the Darumaya for the evening after dropping Kyoko and Julie off at the photography studio. The pair rode in the photography studio's elevator towards the floor where Ren was shooting, Kyoko nervously clutching her hands in her lap. She wasn't sure how she was going to start this conversation with Ren. 'Hey, Ren-san! People keep saying that you're madly in love with me. Is that true?' Kyoko gasped in horror at how rude that sounded in her head. As they reached their floor, Kyoko reluctantly stepped out, still trying to figure out how to phrase her question to Ren. Stuck in her thoughts, she didn't realize when Julie had stepped back into the elevator.

"I have to go check on my own photo shoot right now, but I'll meet with you in thirty minutes back downstairs! Good luck!" Julie said as the elevator doors closed. She had really wanted to see her own son, but she knew that Kyoko wouldn't be able to talk with Ren if his mother was there. She sighed. It had been years since she had seen her son in person, so what was a few more days? In a few more days, he would reveal his true identity to the world, and she would have him back forever.

...

Kyoko looked nervously out at the hallway before her that led to the models' dressing rooms. She felt like it was improper of her to barge in on her senpai unexpectedly, but she had already made up her mind to ask him of his feelings. She reached her hand out to knock on Ren's dressing room but stopped when she heard the voice of his manager.

"Kyaaaaa! She has to fall for you soon!"

"Yukihito-"

"That's so romantic! It's so cute when you're in love!"

"Yukihito-"

"You have to let me be best man at your wedding!"

"Yukihito. Can you please stop teasing me about her?" Ren asked, annoyed at his manager's incessant discussion about his love life.

"Still! I can't believe the mature Tsuruga Ren would fall in love with a high school girl like that! You know that she's still a minor, right?"

"She'll graduate soon, Yukihito! Now could you please stop talking about this?"

Outside Ren's dressing room, Kyoko couldn't believe what she was hearing. She quietly retreated from the door, guilty that she had eavesdropped but happy that she had not confronted Ren directly. How would he have felt if she had asked him if he was in love with her? From what she had heard, he loved a high school girl, so he would have felt awkward telling her of his real crush. He would probably have also assumed she was in love with him since she asked him about his feelings towards her! Then their relationship would be ruined! Kyoko decided that she had to accept that Ren loved another girl, and she would tell those three people that assumed he loved her that they were wrong. She kept telling herself that she had no intention of loving someone again, but why did she feel so hurt when Ren said he loved another? Why did the thought of him loving someone else make her own heart ache?

...

When Julie met Kyoko again downstairs, she immediately became worried. Kyoko had on a downcast look the whole ride back to the Darumaya, and Julie had been too afraid to ask what was wrong. She was worried about what Ren had said to upset Kyoko like this. She knew that whatever had happened must have been a misunderstanding since she knew that both of them shared mutual affections. They would need to talk it out, and Ren had already asked Kyoko to the awards ceremony that night, so they would have to discuss it then. Julie hoped that whatever had Kyoko in such a bad mood would be cleared up that night at the awards ceremony.

...

After dolling herself up for the awards show, Kyoko stood in her room, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She looked at the Corn stone in her hand and tried to center her bad feelings into the stone. She had known this whole time why she had relentlessly refused to believe what people were saying about Ren liking her. She didn't want to accept any hope. As she thought back on her interactions with Ren, she wondered how she could have become so attached to him in such a short time. She had learned so much about his true personality, and she had found out that he was not as super human as most people believed. Sure he was extremely polite, but he could also be open and downright playful to those he was close to. Few saw his true smile, but luckily she had been able to see it directed towards her more than a few times. He was an amazing actor, and she was eternally striving to be at his level. She eagerly wanted to know more about him, talk with him more, be around his presence more. She knew why she had felt betrayed when she had seen him kiss another girl so passionately on camera and then kiss her on the cheek right after, but she didn't want to accept why she had felt that way back then. It was jealousy. She was jealous since Mogami Kyoko had already fallen in love with Tsuruga Ren back then. She had vowed to never let love into her heart again after Reino had hurt her, but she had fallen for Ren. And now she felt heartbroken. Her love was unrequited. Ren was already in love with a high school girl.

"Kyoko-chan! There's a handsome man out here to pick you up!" The okami yelled from downstairs. Kyoko fastened her Corn stone in its pouch and placed inside her clutch before slipping on her high heels and going downstairs to meet Ren, a fake smile plastered on her face so that he couldn't see her heart breaking and her futile attempts to put the locks back on her heart.

...

As Ren saw Kyoko coming down the stairs of the Darumaya, it took his breath away. She looked absolutely stunning in her gown. She had put on a little makeup that accented her natural beauty perfectly, and her hair was slightly curled which made her even more dazzling.

"Good evening, Kyoko-san. You look beautiful tonight," Ren said as he smiled a true smile. Kyoko's mask almost slipped at the brilliance of his smile. If she ever told him about her feelings for him when he was already in love with a high school girl, then their friendship would be ruined, and she would never be on the receiving end of that smile ever again. Kyoko felt herself about to break down at that thought, but she hurriedly put on her mask again.

"Thank you. Good evening to you too, Ren-san," Kyoko replied. Ren looked at her confusedly, wondering why her actions were off. Usually she would refute any compliments, but today she took his compliment without even blushing. On top of that, she was smiling at him, but her smile was fake. What was going on?

"Let's get going so that we're not late for the ceremony, Kyoko-san," Ren said as he extended his arm out to her. After a moment of hesitation, Kyoko took his arm, and he led her to his car. As she walked with Ren, she started to think about how the high school girl Ren liked would react if she saw him on TV with another girl on his arm. Kyoko loosened her hold on his arm, but Ren brought his other hand over her own so that she wouldn't let go. She looked into his worried eyes and tightened her hold on his hand, seeing relief flood his eyes. When they got to Ren's car, he helped her into the passenger seat before getting into the driver's seat and speeding them off towards their destination. The ride to the awards show was silent. Ren concentrated on the road whilst trying to think of any reason for Kyoko's odd behavior as Kyoko desperately tried to put the locks back on her heart again. She reached her hand into her clutch to hold her Corn stone. When the pair made it to their destination, Ren gave his keys to the valet and hurriedly walked to Kyoko's passenger side to help her out. When Ren opened her door, Kyoko dropped her Corn stone in surprise onto the floor of Ren's car, having not noticed that they had arrived at their destination, and hurriedly closed her clutch. She took Ren's hand, and he led her down the red carpet. She put on a polite smile for the paparazzi and was grateful that Ren briskly got them inside before they got too hounded by the paparazzi. They sat down next to each other after they arrived inside the venue and Kyoko found herself instinctively reaching inside her clutch again to hold her Corn stone, but she couldn't feel it. She looked inside her clutch to find her Corn pouch empty with Corn nowhere to be found. With her precious stone gone, she felt herself unable to hold back tears.

"Corrnnnnnnn... I'm so sorry..." Kyoko wailed. Ren's face drained of its color.

"I'm so sorry I lost the precious stone you gave me..." Kyoko cried out. This gave Ren a bit of relief as he realized she wasn't directly talking to him, but he still felt his heart pounding. He had planned to tell her about Kuon at dinner after the awards ceremony, but he hadn't planned to tell her about being Corn. He hadn't known that they had that connection! Or maybe someone else in this world had been Corn? Maybe he wasn't Corn in this world?

"What's the matter, Kyoko-san?" Ren asked.

"I lost the stone that Corn gave me before he had to leave! What am I supposed to do nowwwwww?" Kyoko cried again. She looked helplessly at Ren's concerned face.

"I'll help you find it. I'll be right back!" Ren said before he darted back out to his car. Luckily the valet hadn't driven his car away yet, so he was able to grab his spare keys out of his pocket and open the passenger door to find the blue stone on the floor. He then darted back inside to a still crying Kyoko.

"Here, Kyoko-san. It's okay. You didn't lose Corn," Ren said as he handed her the blue stone. Her tears immediately stopped as the stone was deposited back in her hand.

"Corn! You're alright!" Kyoko smiled at the stone. She looked at it lovingly, and she put it safely away in her bag as the lights dimmed and the awards show started. As the announcer came out and welcomed everyone to the show, Kyoko sought out Ren's hand with her own and squeezed it to get his attention.

"Thank you so much for finding Corn, Ren-san," Kyoko whispered. She moved to let go of his hand, but he wouldn't let go of hers. She looked over at him to see why he hadn't let go but found him paying full attention to the show. He didn't seem like he was going to let go, and she would be lying if she said she didn't like holding his hand like this. She decided that she would let it be, telling herself that this wouldn't happen again when he confessed to the high school girl.

The pair sat through the awards show with Ren winning best actor and Kyoko winning best supporting actress. Ren, who was used to awards ceremonies, said a brief speech to thank his fans before sitting back down. Kyoko accepted her award with a beaming smile on her face, giving heartfelt praise to her supporters and going on and on about how grateful she was for their support. As the award ceremony ended, the pair went outside to be greeted by a mob of reporters.

"Tsuruga-san! Can you tell us why you came with Kyoko-san to the awards show?"

"Tsuruga-san! Are the rumors that you and Kyoko-san are dating true?"

"Kyoko-san! How did you two start dating?"

The pair didn't respond to any of the reporters' questions, and Ren hastily got his car and drove the pair off to a restaurant. He had reserved a table for two at a formal French restaurant, and the pair were shown to a corner table away from prying eyes. They both looked over their menus, but Ren was actually preoccupied in thinking if would really tell Kyoko about being Kuon tonight or not. She had been so distraught earlier and had seemed to have a lot on her mind. He didn't want to possibly hurt her more than she already was with the knowledge of his past. There was also the fact that he would possibly have to tell her that he was Corn too.

"Ren-San?" Kyoko looked at him in concern. He had been zoned out, so Kyoko had ordered her meal first. The waiter looked over at Ren, awaiting his order.

"I'll have the same thing that she's having," Ren said to the server who took their menus then left to relay their orders to the kitchen.

"Are you feeling okay, Ren-san?" Kyoko asked, wondering why he had been zoned out in the first place.

"I was just trying to think of why you called that stone a food," Ren replied, hoping that he would prompt Kyoko to tell him who Corn was in this world.

"Oh, Corn? That stone was given to me by a dear friend named Corn! You probably won't believe this, but he was a fairy prince! Corn left me with this magical stone before he had to return to the fairy world. Actually now that you mention it, I mistook you for Corn around the time when we first met. You must also have fairy blood in you to look so similar to a fairy prince!" Kyoko smiled as she went off into dreamland.

"Did you two meet as kids?" Ren asked, interrupting her reveries.

"Yes! Corn and I played together near a river at my hometown, and then I got the chance to see him again just recently when I went on location to Guam!" Kyoko smiled. Ren's heart beat quickened. He hadn't planned that he would need to tell her about Corn tonight. That was really the only reason that Kyoko had run away from him the last time he had told her his secret. She had wholeheartedly accepted the things that he had done in his past as Kuon, but she had felt betrayed since he had lied to her about Corn. She had felt that he had played with her feelings, that he had toyed with her by tricking her into believing he was a fairy. He hadn't even had the heart to tell her his secret when they had met in Guam again.

There was no way he could tell her his secret tonight like he planned. He was too much of a coward. He was scared that he would lose her for real this time. Was their bond in this world even able to withstand a blow like that yet? They had only just recently become friends, and he had not yet gotten her to fall in love with him.

"Here are your dinners," the waiter said as he placed two identical looking plates in front of the pair. As the pair started to eat, an uncomfortable silence fell between them. Kyoko was still trying to put the locks on her heart, failing to see that Ren wasn't eating that much. Normally she would scold him on his bad eating habits, but she was too distraught over her own feelings to notice.

"Has something been troubling you tonight, Kyoko-san? You seem to have a lot on your mind tonight," Ren asked, unable to take the silence any longer. Kyoko stilled. There was no way that she could tell him the truth. He would be disappointed in her for falling in love with him, and their relationship would be ruined! Also, there was no good outcome to her admitting her feelings. She had already overheard how he was in love with that highschool girl, so she had no chance of winning his affections.

"Not a thing," Kyoko summoned up her acting skills to give Ren a fake smile. She pushed her mask to the forefront once again so that Ren wouldn't worry about her odd behavior; however, he already knew something was wrong. He couldn't bring himself to ask her what was wrong that night or admit his identity. He didn't want to permanently damage their relationship if Kyoko was already in a fragile state.

"Should we be going now? It's getting a little late," Kyoko asked. The pair decided to leave the restaurant, Ren paying for the meal with no objection from Kyoko who didn't even notice, and got into Ren's car. When they pulled up to the Darumaya, Kyoko stepped out of the car quickly.

"Goodnight, Ren-san," Kyoko quickly bowed and practically ran into the Darumaya so that Ren wouldn't see the tears that were leaking from her eyes. She couldn't keep hiding her feelings from him when she was in such close proximity to him. He would notice eventually, and her heart hurt whenever she thought about how he would leave her forever if he knew her feelings. This is why she had told herself that she would never fall in love again. Love only brought pain. She decided that there was only one way for her to keep Ren from finding out her feelings, and that was to stay as far away from him as possible.

* * *

 **Next chapter comes out on the 21st (one day after Skip Beat! if it's translated quick enough!)! As a fellow shipper of RenxKyoko, I'm sorry for the heartbreak that this chapter caused to our favorite couple. But as an author, I'm grinning maniacally at having given you guys some hope last chapter then flinging you into the pit of despair yet again.**

 **Thank you to the reviewers of last chapter and those of you who decided to follow or favorite _Timeless Affections_! This story has around four chapters left (plus an epilogue maybe?), and I hope that you stick around with me until the end! Your support really helps me to keep going, and I'm so grateful that you guys like this story!**

 **Next chapter a few familiar faces will come back, and we'll finally learn how to break this curse!**


	16. 16-Realizations

**I'm sorryyyyy! I was really busy yesterday and had no time to edit this chapter and upload it! Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Ren knew from watching the news that his parents had just come to Japan a few days ago. They had come the day before the Japanese Academy Awards. That meant that he had about two more weeks before he had to tell the world his true identity. And he had less time than that to tell Kyoko his secret.

Yashiro had been working diligently at clearing Ren's schedule for a couple weeks so that he could fly back with his parents and spend some much needed time together with them after he told the world of his true identity. He was excited to finally be able to acknowledge them as his parents again. He had finally been able to accept being Kuon through Kyoko's help, and he knew that she would be proud of him for taking this step even if she wasn't next to him when he did.

Ren had been resting on a couch in the LME lobby with none coming to approach him since his eyes were closed in thought. Ren decided he would go meet Yashiro at that moment and opened his eyes. He raised an eyebrow when he saw a man approaching him. Wasn't this...?

"Who really are you, Tsuruga Ren?" Reino asked as he quickly grabbed Ren's arm. His eyes went wide for a few seconds until he pulled his hand away from Ren's arm. Ren was too in shock to have done anything in retaliation.

"I would suggest that you never do that again, and you should never even think about getting close to Kyoko-san with me around, stalker," Ren said with a murderous glare. Reino shuddered before running away. Once a safe distance away from Ren, he caught his breath and tried to process the information he had just learned. He looked down at the cage around his belt and at the grudge Kyokos who had bathed in Ren's murderous aura just then. He smiled wickedly as he thought of the perfect plan so that they would stay in this world forever.

 _You can't keep your secret from her forever, Hizuri Kuon._

...

"Why have you become so close to Sho-chan? He's supposed to be for Mimori only," Mimori sneered at Kyoko. She had cornered her in a hallway at school, and Kyoko looked at her with almost a bored expression. She had gone through bullying before for being close to Reino, so she was used to dealing with these matters.

"We're just friends. Don't worry. I'm not a threat to you. I don't like him like that," Kyoko smoothly replied.

"Why should I believe you when you say you don't love him? If not Sho, then who do you like? If you tell me that, then I'll believe you," Mimori replied. Kyoko blushed as she thought of Ren but tried to shake those thoughts out of her head.

"I-I'm not in l-love with anyone."

"You and I both know you're lying after that reaction! You like Sho-chan, don't you?!"

"No! I don't!"

"Then tell me who you like!"

"No!"

"Tell me!"

"I'm not going to!" Kyoko said, getting frustrated.

"TELL ME!"

"NO!"

"JUST TELL ME!" Mimori screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I'M IN LOVE WITH REN-SAN!" Kyoko screamed back unable to hide her frustration any longer. Both girls glared at each other, out of breath from screaming.

"You should have just said so at the beginning," Mimori frowned as she walked away. Kyoko couldn't help but slump to the ground. She had told herself not to let her feelings show, but she had so easily told a stranger who she liked! There was no way that she would be able to hide her feelings forever if it was that easy for Mimori to learn of her feelings.

...

As Sho walked through the Akatoki headquarters that night, he and his manager were met by Mimori and hers.

"Sho-chan! I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner together tonight!" Mimori smiled. The two managers went on ahead of their charges so that Mimori and Sho could have a private conversation.

"I decline," Sho instinctively said before Mimori clung onto his arm.

"Why do you go out with that girl so easily and always say no to me?! It's not fair!"

"Pochi-"

"Sho-chan can only love Mimori! He stands no chance with that Kyoko-chan!"

"Pochi-"

"She doesn't even love you back! She loves that no-talent actor Tsuruga Ren!"

"Mimori-chan. It's not nice to lie-"

"It's true! She told me herself today at school when I asked her about it!" Mimori said in pride. Sho's heart sank, and he shrugged Mimori off his arm.

"Please don't stay fixated on me like this, Mimori-chan. I can't love you like you want. I'm sorry," Sho said as he took off to meet with his manager. After seeing Mimori's devastated look last time he had taken Kyoko out for ice cream, Sho couldn't stand to have another case of Kyoko happen. He had witnessed just how much he had hurt her after coming to this world. Before, he had only regretted letting her go since she had been hiding this amazing side of herself from him for so many years and he wanted it all for himself. But after living in this messed up world for who knows how long, he now regretted hurting his childhood friend when he had let her go. He had never known the full extent of her hurt, only seeing her anger directed towards him. And it had been so long since he had been able to spend a happy day with Kyoko. After she had left him, she had hated him and would only ever argue with him. He had enjoyed that he had at least had enough place in her heart to rile her up still, but he really enjoyed it more when he could get her to smile or laugh along with him. He had been too immature before to know that he should have kept Kyoko close to him as a friend since that kind of strong connection wasn't easily found. But he had lost that connection to her when he had gotten too swept up in his quest for fame. And even in this world, his connection to her was less than it was before. He might as well have not made that wish if he knew it would turn out this way.

When he finally caught up with Shoko, Sho smiled painfully as realization hit. It had taken him long, but now he finally realized that Kyoko would never really be his again. He had lost her. He was too late. He had realized her worth to him after she had left, but there was no way to go back to how they were before. No. He didn't want to go back to how they were before. He never treated her right, and she wasn't happy back then as she was now. He had held her back from her true potential back then. Even if he truly loved her now, she didn't love him back. Even if she did love him, he was sure that he would not make her as happy as Ren did. He would end up hurting her in some way through his immaturity. After all, he knew her better than anyone else. He knew that he would only hurt her in the end.

She was Mogami Kyoko. She gave her all to those who she cared about, and she was polite to everyone she met. Kyoko could be a bit eccentric at times with her random outbursts and her insane energy, but that was what made her Kyoko. She had a childlike innocence even after going through so many heartbreaks. She even still believed in fairy tales and magic like a little girl.

Sho smiled at the thought of a story that Kyoko would often talk about. She always talked about the story of Sleeping Beauty who was cursed by a fairy to fall asleep for a hundred years. It wasn't until a prince came upon her that she was woken up with true love's kiss...

Sho froze in place. Shoko looked at him in concern as he thought over Reino's words.

 _There's always a way to break a fairy's curse..._

Sho gasped as he realized how they could finally get back to the real world. True love's kiss!

* * *

 **I hope you liked this chapter! I'm sorry it's pretty short, but I wanted to get a chapter out quickly! If you liked this chapter, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a review or favorite or follow this story! Thank you guys!**

 **...**

 **When there's no progress in the newest Skip Beat chapter -_-**

 **I just want Ren and Kyoko to meet is that too much to ask for? The audition arc has dragged on for way too long. It'll be another year before they even come face to face I bet. *cries***


	17. 17-The Pain of Deception

**So I was poking around on my profile and realized that it's been a little over a year since I started writing fanfic! I know that I started this particular story last year (almost half a year ago) and I'm really grateful to those who have stuck around with me on this long journey. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Technically it's not Sunday here yet, but I know that it's Sunday at least somewhere else in the world, so here's this week's chapter!**

* * *

As Kyoko left from school on her way back to the Darumaya, she felt like someone was following her. The Darumaya wasn't too far away from her school, so she had decided to walk instead of ride her bike. She started walking at a faster pace and turned into an alleyway that was a shortcut to the street where the Darumaya was so that she would get there faster. That was until she came upon one of her grudge demons lying in the alleyway, half-dead.

 _"Master…"_ the grudge choked out in between coughs.

"Eh? What happened?" Kyoko asked worriedly. She hadn't even noticed that she had been missing some demons after Ren's smiles had kept frying them. Just how many had succumbed to Ren?

" _Run, master…Run…"_ The grudge started to say. Kyoko became more and more concerned over her grudge and failed to realize who was stalking behind her until she felt a cloth over her mouth and saw the world start to fade to black. In her last moments of consciousness, she only saw the malicious grin of her purple-eyed kidnapper.

…

Ren kept looking at his phone in between scenes of his latest drama. Was it too forward of him to call Kyoko and see if she was okay after last night? He was nervous that he would scare her away, but she had seemed really odd the previous night. His hand hovered over the button to speed dial her number. When the director called for lunch break, he sped off to his dressing room and immediately pressed the call button on his phone.

His phone called hers for a long time before receiving her voicemail message. He decided that he would leave her a message and that he would wait until she could talk to him about it.

"Hey, Kyoko-san. This is Ren, and you're probably wondering how I got this number. The president gave me it when I expressed concern over your wellbeing yesterday night," Ren lied. Kyoko didn't have to know that he had memorized her phone number from before.

"I was just calling to ask if you were feeling alright since you seemed out of it yesterday. Please call me back if you feel up to talking about it. I'm really worried about you," Ren finished and hung up. He decided to get lunch because if she called back later, she would be mad if he hadn't eaten anything.

…

"Are you finally waking up?"

As Kyoko opened her eyes, she tried to gain sense of her surroundings. She attempted to move her arms and legs but realized that she had been tied to a chair. She looked around and realized that she was in the dining area of an expensive-looking apartment. Only everything in the apartment had the common color scheme of black and a tiny bit of purple, and all the windows had the curtains drawn over them. Only candles lit the room, and Kyoko caught the maniacal grin of Reino sitting across from her in the dim candlelight.

"Your phone rang earlier. Would you like to hear the message?" Reino asked.

"What the hell are you playing at, Reino?" Kyoko glared at the boy who had supposedly brought her to Tokyo as his maid only to let her go when he got famous.

"Relax, Kyoko. I only tied you up and brought you here so that you would listen as I told you the truth. I'll let you go after listening, and you can decide what to do from there. But first let's listen to this message," Reino grinned as he hit the playback button on Kyoko's phone.

 _"Hey, Kyoko-san. This is Ren, and you're probably wondering how I got this number. The president gave me it when I expressed concern over your wellbeing yesterday night,"_ Ren's voice said over her phone's speaker. Her heart skipped a beat at his concerned tone. She had totally made him worry last night!

 _"I was just calling to ask if you were feeling alright since you seemed out of it yesterday. Please call me back if you feel up to talking about it. I'm really worried about you,"_ Ren's voice ended. Kyoko couldn't help a small smile from coming out. _Ren_ was worried about _her_?

"So my guess was correct it seems. You're in love with that demon, don't you?" Reino said, breaking her out of her thoughts of Ren.

"Ren-san is not a demon!" Kyoko replied in anger. Reino only smiled knowingly in response.

"Are you sure about that? Do you _really_ know him?" Reino challenged.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you want to know who he truly is? What kind of a monster he is?" Reino asked.

"Shut up! You can't talk about Ren-san like that! Even if he's done some bad things in the past, it doesn't matter because I love the person who he is today!" Kyoko shouted back.

"Ugh. You have too big of a mouth on you. I'm just going to tell you the truth," Reino said as he put a gag in her mouth to stop her from talking any more.

"Your precious 'Ren-san' isn't who he says he is. He's been lying to you and playing you for a fool this whole time. Everyone's been lying to you. Even those two people you call your parents. Ren's _real_ name is Hizuri Kuon," Reino said. Kyoko's eyes widened immediately but after a few seconds she just stared at Reino in disbelief.

"What? You don't believe me? Well this Hizuri Kuon was a failure of an actor in America. He was fired countless times from tons of projects, and he eventually stopped caring about acting. He became reckless and joined gangs, and one day he ended up getting his best friend killed with his stupidity. To escape from the media who kept calling him a bloody murderer, he was taken by his parents' friend, Lory, to Japan to live under a false name. He's a murderer and a liar! He's deceived all of Japan for all of this time! His parents were even in on the whole thing, deceiving you this whole time!" Reino shouted.

"And that's not even the worst part about this Tsuruga Ren! He's been playing with your feelings this whole time! I just don't want to see you hurt by someone leaving you again, Kyoko. Because that's what this guy always does! Did you ever meet a young boy by a stream in Kyoko who gave you a blue stone?" Reino asked. Kyoko raised a curious eyebrow before nodding.

"I know that you also met him in Guam pretty recently. But did you ever stop to think why Tsuruga Ren and Corn looked so much alike when you first met Tsuruga Ren? Didn't you ever think that you mispronounced his name?" Reino frowned. As Kyoko realized what Reino was trying to say, she felt a million thoughts running through her head of both Corn and Ren.

 _'No. This can't be possible,'_ Kyoko told herself as she felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Your precious Corn has been lying to you this entire time. You've only been a toy to mess around with to him. He's laughed at you all this time for being gullible and believing that stupid story about fairies, and he tricked you so that he could steal your first kiss. He knew this whole time who you were when you stayed in the dark about his own identity. He thought you were an idiot and tricked you into believing his lies about the fairy world and curses. Do you really love this jerk?" Reino asked. As he saw Kyoko with tears streaming down her face, he removed her gag, allowing her sobs to come out. He removed the rest of her restraints and pulled her into a hug. She didn't pull away. She was too distraught over Ren's deception.

"I'm sorry, Kyoko. You didn't deserve this. He was never your fairy prince, he was only acting this whole time and played with your feelings. He never loved you for who you are, but I do. I know now that what I did in the past was unacceptable, and I stand here begging you for forgiveness. I can't stand to see you so hurt over this. We can go back to those good times we spent together before you left," Reino said as he looked into Kyoko's lifeless eyes. He moved his lips closer and closer to hers until they touched. She did nothing in retaliation, allowing him to claim her lips as his until he decided to pull away.

"Kyoko-"

"Just leave me alone, Reino," Kyoko replied as she got up, swiped her things off his kitchen counter, and slammed the door to his apartment behind her. She knew that Reino still had her phone after letting her listen to Ren's message, but at this point she didn't care. She just needed to get away.

Reino stared at the door that Kyoko had slammed. His hand roamed to his belt where two more grudge Kyokos were kept prisoner. At least he had them to play with until she cleared her head and realized that she needed to come back to him.

* * *

 **Hey! I just wanted to clear up the timeline a bit if it's gotten a little confusing.**

 **So right now we are about 2 years back in time from the reality where Ren is married to Kyoko. It has been a couple of months in the wish world, and it is wintertime (before Kyoko's birthday). Kuu and Julie came to Japan right before the Japanese Academy Awards to visit Kyoko and stay for 2 weeks. Ren's agreement with Lory was that he would reveal his identity to the whole world the day before they had to leave Japan to go back to America so he could fly back to America with them. That meant that he would have to tell Kyoko of his identity before then so that she wouldn't hate him forever (but his plan didn't work now did it?). At this point in the story we are about one and a half weeks away from Ren revealing his identity to the whole world.**

 **So I hope that I cleared up some confusion about the timeline, but if you are still confused don't hesitate to tell me! I would be happy to explain anything that's making you guys confused! Sometimes it makes perfect sense to me, but I forget that it might not seem that way to my readers since I'm writing the story.**


	18. 18-Just Leave Me Alone

**Not sure if it's just email notifications from the site not working, but I didn't get any response from you guys about last chapter. There haven't been as many views as there usually are on a chapter, so I'm just going to assume that that's the reason since this happened to me in email notifications for other fanfics and review alerts in the previous chapter. I've also had a few problems with uploading this chapter, so maybe it's the site's problem?**

 **Well anyways, please enjoy this chapter and I would really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback on this chapter or leave me a favorite/follow! It really makes my day to see a review alert pop up in my email :).**

* * *

Kyoko sat on her futon, hugging her knees and letting her sadness overtake her from being deceived by Ren.

How could she have let herself fall in love with another? Why had she been so stupid to believe that Ren could possibly love her back? Why did she believe his lies? How could she have thought for one second that he cared about her?

She had finally accepted love just to be hurt like this again. There was absolutely no reason to let that dreadful emotion escape from her box ever again. She would only be permanently broken if it came out again.

Kyoko instinctively reached for her Corn stone before realizing what she had done. She looked into the deep blue expanse of the stone and felt even more tears come to her eyes. She clenched her fist around the stone in frustration.

Kyoko felt torn. She felt like throwing the stone out of the window, but at the same time it had helped her through so much. Even if Corn himself had played with her for his own amusement, the stone had always been there for her. Maybe it was a lie that the stone had magic, but it was still always there for her to vent her sorrows to. The Corn stone had always listened to her when no one else would.

Kyoko unclenched her fist and put the Corn stone safely back in its pouch. She then set to work putting all of her locks back on her box, doubling the amount that was previously there. Never again would she allow herself to be a stupid girl and fall in love. Mogami Kyoko would never open her heart again.

…

Ren sighed after another NG-less day of filming his newest drama. It had only been a couple days since he had taken Kyoko to that awards show, but she hadn't responded to his voicemails. After she hadn't responded to the first one, he had sent her a couple more because he was really starting to worry about her. He only had about a week left until he would publicly reveal his identity to the world, and he had to tell her first. He should have done it at dinner that night, but he had been a coward. And now he couldn't get a hold of her. What was he going to do?

"Oi, Tsuruga."

Ren looked behind him to see Sho standing there.

"What do you want, Fuwa," Ren glared at Sho publicly, too worried about his matter with Kyoko to care about public appearances at the moment. Any people around the pair cringed back at the uncharacteristic Ren.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?" Sho asked, noticing the concerned looks of passerby around him who had never seen his anger before. The pair walked to Ren's dressing room before Sho spoke again.

"I just want to apologize," Sho said, causing Ren to become dumbfounded.

"For what?" Ren asked, stunned that Sho was even apologizing for anything. He had thought the boy too immature to accept responsibility for his mistakes.

"I'm sorry for that wish I made that took you away from your wife, and I'm sorry that you're in this mess in the first place. I was selfish in that wish, wishing that Kyoko could come back to me and we could be together, but now I realize it wasn't meant to be. I don't deserve her. What I did to her was unforgivable, and she wouldn't be happy even if she was with me. But I do know that she's happy when she's with you. I know how we can get back to the other world. All you have to do is give Kyoko true love's kiss," Sho explained.

"Wow. I don't know what to say, Fuwa. That was really mature of you to admit your mistake," Ren replied.

"All I need you to do is to go find Kyoko and tell her that you love her," Sho stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"But what if she doesn't love me back?" Ren asked, a little embarrassed he would admit such a thing to Sho.

"Are you kidding me? Of course she loves you! I know for a fact that she loves you, so just go. I don't want to have to relive the next two years again," Sho responded. He then exited Ren's dressing room before he could say anything else, leaving Ren alone. He immediately tried to call Kyoko, but she didn't answer.

...

Kyoko had immersed herself in her characters almost every second of the day so that she wouldn't be able to think of Ren's betrayal. Whenever she was out of character, she could feel her heart shattering into a million pieces at getting duped by yet another important person in her heart. She had seen his voicemails on her new phone that she had gotten after leaving her last one at Reino's place, since he had sent at least one every day, but she just couldn't listen to them. She imagined that they would mock her for only now realizing the true reason behind her friendship with Ren. Finally after one week of avoiding Ren, she found herself in LME changing into her Love Me uniform for the afternoon. After changing, she headed up to Sawara to see if there were any pending job offers she could help with. In reality, she hadn't been asked to do any extra Love Me work, but she had finished her shooting for the day and didn't want to go home. When she was home, she couldn't help but mope about yet another person in her life who had played with her feelings.

"Ah! Mogami-san! I don't have any Love Me work for you, but the president has been wanting to ask you about a Love Me assignment. He's not busy right now, so why don't you go see him?" Sawara told her. She thanked him before getting into the elevator towards the floor of Lory's office. When the elevator finally arrived however, she found herself looking across the hall at the one man she didn't want to see. She felt the locks she had placed on her box crumbling again when she saw the worried look on his face. She tried to summon up her demons to protect her like they did against Reino, but she found that they were gone. Some had been captured by Reino and the rest had been burned by Ren's killer smile.

She took a deep breath and summoned up all her acting skills to build herself a mask to face him with. She would not let herself seem weak in front of him and show just how much his lies had affected her. That would only intensify his sick enjoyment of her ignorance.

She strode across the hallway towards Lory's office, ignoring Ren until he stopped her from walking further by putting his hand on her shoulder. She stared at his shoes to avoid looking directly at his face.

"Kyoko-san, could I spare a moment with you before your meeting with Takarada-san?" he asked. She nodded her approval but didn't face him. He thought it odd, but continued on. It made him anxious when paired with how she had been avoiding his calls for the whole week.

"The president wanted me to discuss with you about how to approach the media about our appearance at the awards ceremony together. It seems like they've made up some rumors about us being a couple", Ren said, mentioning his talk with Lory a few minutes prior.

"I'm sorry about that, Ren-san. I'll make sure that I tell the media that we're not a couple. I would hate for people to believe any lies about you," Kyoko scoffed, a bit of Natsu coming out to protect her.

Ren was taken aback by her hostile tone. "Is something the matter, Kyoko-san?"

"Is there anything else you need to speak to me about?" Kyoko replied curtly, not bothering to answer his question. Ren scratched the back of his neck nervously. He wanted to just kiss her right there to test out Sho's theory, but there was definitely something off about her. He was a coward for finding another excuse for not acting on his feelings, but he was really afraid that somehow things would go horribly wrong if he kissed her right then and there. True love's kiss only worked if both parties loved each other, and right now Ren was pretty sure that she didn't reciprocate his feelings. She acted as if she was trying to distance herself from him, and he couldn't let that happen.

"I wanted to ask you if you were okay after that awards ceremony. You seemed distracted for most of the night. I tried to call you about it, but you never picked up," Ren replied, not going to back down until he at least figured out what had gone wrong with Kyoko.

During her whole exchange with Ren, Kyoko had abstained from looking directly at him, knowing she would not be able to keep her composure if she did so. Sure she was mad and hurt by his lies, but somewhere inside her, her feelings for Ren still existed. It had taken her a long time to finally accept them, and they unfortunately would not go away so easily. She kept remembering his supposed kindness towards her and how he seemed like he had really cared about her wellbeing unlike that silver-haired creep. Even now it felt like he was concerned with her wellbeing, and Kyoko really did want to believe that he truly cared about her. She had doubts that Reino's accusation had been truthful, but it was hard to dispute his story when it made complete sense. But then again, she also knew in her heart that Ren would never do that to her. She wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that the man she had fallen in love with would not betray her like this.

"Kyoko-san," Ren said, making her raise her head to see his concerned eyes. Kyoko stiffened at the the emotion in his eyes. Was that really all an act?

"Why do you care, Ren-san?" she cast her eyes to the floor again.

"Is it abnormal of me to ask my friend if she is okay?" Ren replied, still confused as to why Kyoko was acting in this way. Kyoko sneered at his answer.

"Just drop the act, Ren-san. I'm done with believing your lies," Kyoko glared at him.

"What are you-"

"You don't need to act as if you really care for me, Ren-san. I know the truth. So can you just drop this act and leave me alone?" Kyoko's voice cracked. She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Why did he want to keep torturing her? Was he so cruel that he would drag this joke out as long as he could? Why couldn't he just confess the truth and tell her that he had only ever thought she was amusing with her childish beliefs and laughed about it behind her back? Why couldn't he just tell her that he had never once cared about her? She knew the truth already!

"I'm sorry, Kyoko-san, but I'm really confused as to what you're referring to. When have I ever put on an act in front of you?" Ren asked, confused as to why Kyoko was acting so hostile towards him. What exactly had he done to hurt her?

"I can't believe you won't even admit it. I had thought I knew who you were, but it turns out that I was wrong. I'm done talking with you, Ren-san. Just stay away from me from now on," Kyoko scowled and brushed past him towards Lory's office.

"Wait, Kyoko!" Ren yelled towards her. She didn't even look back as she closed the door behind her, effectively shutting him out of her life in his eyes. He desperately pulled on the door pleading for her to talk to him.

As Kyoko closed the door behind herself and locked it so that Ren couldn't get to her, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself and keep from breaking down in front of her boss. She heard a pounding on the door behind her, but she tuned it out and scraped her mask back on for her talk with Lory.

* * *

 **I'm sorry for the late update since it took me a while to edit this chapter and finish some other work up.**

 **On a happy note, I was able to find a translation of the latest Skip Beat! chapter on a Skip Beat! facebook page. I had read a summary of the chapter when it had first come out because I couldn't wait, but I really enjoy reading the actual chapters. It's too bad that this chapter was another one that's just dragging out this audition arc. Please just let it be done with so we can see Kyoko and Ren meet again~**


	19. 19-Please Believe in Ren!

**Let me just preface this A/N by saying Happy late birthday to Ren! I mean, at least in our universe while Skip Beat! is stuck in that never-ending audition arc...**

 **I just want to thank the reviewers of chapter 18. Thank you so much for reviewing! I was really anxious about last chapter since I was a little afraid that I was being a bit too harsh on Ren, but now I think it's okay if I give him a little more to work for to get back Kyoko ;). I know that all we want as Skip Beat! fans is to see the OTP get together, but love is never easy, is it? But seriously, thank you for reviewing because in a stressful week, your reviews have helped to brighten my day and help me look forward to getting this chapter out to you guys. It's a little on the shorter side compared to the last few chapters, so I hope you can forgive me!**

* * *

Once she collected herself, Kyoko looked around Lory's office which was decorated with huge Greek statues of gods adorning each wall and a magnificent throne that he was sitting on. As Kyoko walked towards Lory's desk, she saw him dressed like a Greek god with a golden band on his head, a toga, and gladiator sandals. He had a thunder bolt on his outfit, marking him as the king of the gods, Zeus. His aide was dressed as Hermes, Zeus's messenger with winged sandals.

"Mogami-kun! Just the girl I wanted to see!" Lory said, delighted from her presence.

"Good afternoon, Takarada-sama. I heard that you wanted to see me for a Love Me assignment?" Kyoko bowed politely. Lory raised an eyebrow at the girl's overwhelming formality then noticed a loud noise coming from behind her.

"Would you happen to know why someone is pounding on my door, Mogami-kun?" Lory questioned her.

Kyoko paled and pleaded with her eyes for him not to ask any further. She looked completely heartbroken, and he was tempted to drop the question. He looked at her with a curious eyebrow, about to continue with his questioning until he was startled from his thoughts by his phone ringing.

"Excuse me for a moment, Mogami-kun," Lory apologized as he picked up the phone.

 _"Boss! Please, you have to let me in! There's been a huge misunderstanding between me and Kyoko-san, and I'm afraid that she won't hear me out. Please let me talk to her!"_ Ren's voice shouted into Lory's ear immediately after he picked up the receiver. He looked up to see Kyoko looking at the phone fearfully and was stuck on what he would do for the couple. Kyoko looked like she would break if she had to talk to him, but then again, Ren said that it was all a misunderstanding. He had to choose between supporting Ren or Kyoko. Lory put his hand over his phone and looked to Kyoko, wanting to hear her side of the story.

"Tell me what Ren has done to you and I'll decide if I'll let him in or not," Lory demanded. Kyoko widened her eyes in fear as the banging on the door began again and yelling could be heard.

"He's lied to me this whole time just to play around with my feelings, but I recently found out his secret. He thinks that it's funny that I believed him about fairytales and him being a fairy prince and laughed about it behind my back! I really don't want to see him, President, so please don't let him in!" Kyoko pleaded as she ended up in a dogeza on the floor.

"Does this have anything to do with his real name?" Lory interjected.

"I found out that he's Hizuri Kuon," Kyoko answered. Lory widened his eyes, then smashed the end call button. If that was what this was about, then Ren could lose Kyoko forever if this situation was handled in the wrong way. Ren was very emotional right now, and he could potentially push her away for good if he wasn't careful enough! Lory motioned Ruto over who ventured out of the office after hearing Lory's orders. A few minutes later, Ruto came back in and the pounding was gone. Kyoko had no idea what Ruto had done to make Ren go away, but nevertheless she was grateful.

"Thank you, Takarada-sama," Kyoko bowed.

As Lory looked across at the dreary girl in front of him, he frowned.

"Mogami-kun?"

"Yes?" Kyoko smiled at him, her insecurities masked again.

"I called you here today to do a test of sorts. See, I've recently begun to ponder about how much longer it would take before you could graduate from the Love Me section. II want to test you to see what stage you are at in your training," Lory explained. In reality though, he was only testing her to see just how much longer it would take for the wish to be broken. He just hoped it would be in this year.

She only nodded in reply.

"I'm going to show you some pictures, and I want you to respond with whatever comes to your mind when you see that person," Lory said. Kyoko nodded in understanding, and he took that as a cue for him to start.

Lory took out the first photo of Hikaru on a promotional poster for Bridge Rock.

"Short brother!" Kyoko giggled, and Lory chuckled along with her at her answer. He felt bad for the boy since he had heard rumors that Hikaru had a crush on the girl, but it didn't seem like she reciprocated those feelings. She probably only thought of him as like a big brother. He decided to show her the next photo of Kanae, laughing in a still from the Curara commercial.

"Best friend!" Kyoko grinned wildly. Lory anticipated her answer, and he couldn't help but smile as well. The two Love Me girls had found solace with each other as best friends, and that really did take them a step closer to graduating the Love Me section since they were able to express love between friends so easily now.

Then he showed her a picture of Reino smirking for a skincare commercial he had taken part in. Her aura darkened for a second before she replied.

"That bastard has ruined my life multiple times. I wish he would just burn in the deepest pit in hell!" Kyoko seethed in anger. Lory cringed back at her fury. Maybe he would have to wait two years until his favorite employees had any progress together if she was still at this stage.

Lory next showed her a picture of Sho in a promotional poster for his newest album, legitimately curious as to how she would reply.

"Little brother," Kyoko responded after a few seconds. Lory couldn't help but feel pity for the boy. He knew that Kyoko and Ren were meant to be, but he felt sorry that Sho had no chance. He knew that it was partially the boy's fault that he had lost his chance when he threw Kyoko away, but even in this world they were just not meant to be. But at least he was learning of how his past mistakes were wrong. He was maturing in his thinking, and Lory couldn't help but feel proud of him.

Lory hesitated on showing her the next photo after her request earlier, but he needed to know. He showed her a picture of Ren in a promotional photo for his newest drama.

When Kyoko saw the photo of Ren on the set of his new drama, she thought of that kiss he had given her on her cheek and unconsciously drifted her hand to touch that spot. She then remembered when he had kissed her as Corn in Guam. Why? Why would he do those things if he had only wanted to play with her feelings? Was he really that cruel? She thought that she knew the true Ren, but she just couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. Before she knew it, she responded.

"Why would he kiss me?" Her voice cracked.

"Don't you already know the answer, Mogami-kun?" Lory answered back.

"He wanted to lead me on then dump me to see my reaction," Kyoko felt tears come to her eyes. Why did this always happen whenever she fell in love?

"Mogami-kun. I don't understand how you would come to that conclusion because I've never known Ren to delight in the misery of others," Lory responded.

"Especially not to someone who has feelings for him," Lory added, causing Kyoko to snap her head up to look Lory directly in the eyes with fear tracing her features.

"Don't worry, I won't tell him unless you ask me to," Lory promised. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"President, you know of how he's Kuon, right?"

Lory's nodded in understanding.

"You know who he is, so can you tell me something? Why would he play around with me this whole time like that? I thought I knew who he was, but I don't know anymore."

"I told you, Kuon isn't the type to play around with someone's feelings. He wants the best for everyone around him, and he even helps costars who are having trouble with their parts because he wants them to succeed. He's never cheated on a girl before, heck he's even been single for years because every girl he dated would leave him! And he just let them go without a fight because he thought that they would truly be happier if they were away from him. He wanted them to be happy even if that meant sacrificing his own happiness. I know Kuon, and I know that he would never hurt someone's feelings intentionally. But you and I both already knew that, right?" Lory asked. Kyoko bit her lip as she struggled to refute his answer, but responded anyways after a few seconds of delay.

"But sir, are you really sure that he wouldn't use my belief in fairytales to his advantage to lie to me and watch me act like an idiot? There's no way that he can actually care about me…" Kyoko frowned.

"Mogami-kun, I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but I can tell you most certainly that Kuon cares about you. He would not hurt you intentionally like that. I think that you need to hear his side of the story before you come to any conclusions. What he says might surprise you."

Kyoko suddenly stood up from her chair. "Or he might just laugh in my face and taunt me for believing in your lies. If I confront him, I'll just humiliate myself further. If you could excuse me, president, I need to be going to a filming of _Everlasting Youth_ now," Kyoko turned her back to Lory's desk.

"Mogami-kun! You don't seriously believe that he would do such a thing!"

"Goodbye, Takarada-sama," Kyoko waved as she closed the door to his office behind her. Lory sighed. They should have never made that idiot couple the ones who would break the wish! At this rate, they would have to wait a decade for the spell to be broken with true love's kiss!

"Just give them time. Our mission is almost complete," Mina said as she flew out from under Lory's desk to sit on top of it and face him.

"Fuwa Sho's learned his lesson and now he can move on from Mogami Kyoko, right? That was our whole purpose of granting his wish," Mina explained.

"Even if our primary mission is complete, seeing those two struggle like this pains me. It's our fault that they were torn apart from their honeymoon," Lory pouted.

"They'll get their honeymoon once the wish is broken, you know that," Mina smiled.

"And how long will that take? Those two will always be dense, won't they? At this rate, I'll be a great-grandparent by the time the spell is broken," Lory sighed.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this week's chapter!**

 **I would really appreciate it if you could spare some time to leave me some feedback on this chapter. Maybe I'm making Kyoko too stubborn and OOC when she won't listen to Lory, but I'm not really sure. Anyways, I love reading reviews even if they point out some flaw in a chapter since that makes me think more when writing the next one so it will be better! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next Sunday!**


	20. 20-Avoidance

**This is a really short chapter, and I'm sorry for that. I had written this chapter differently at first, but I changed it when I realized it was moving along too fast. Kyoko needs time to calm down, and I hope that this chapter shows that. Also, I'm sorry for the late update! It feels like I always update on Mondays now since I've updated late so many times, lol.**

 **Thank you to all of the reviewers of the last chapter! I read some of your comments about it being weird that Kyoko would accuse Lory of lying, so I hope that I fixed it here. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

As Kyoko exited from Lory's office, she tried to suppress the thoughts in her head that were screaming at her for being so rude to her boss. On top of that, she had accused him of lying to her and had left before Lory could finish their meeting! If she had been an employee at someplace other than LME , she might have very well been fired for her insubordination!

But she had left so suddenly because she just couldn't take what Lory was saying anymore. Of course Kyoko wanted to believe that what Lory was saying was true, that Kuon truly cared about her. But even if Lory was making a logical assumption, he wasn't Kuon and he didn't know what Kuon's true intentions were. Everytime that Lory would try to tell her that Kuon cared about her it only hurt her as she remembered that all those happy memories with Kuon were fake. She didn't want to find out that their memories together meant nothing to Kuon, so she would make sure he wouldn't affirm her worst fears. She didn't want to see him again.

Kyoko struggled to slip her mask back on, but after a few deep breaths, she was off to meet her manager to be driven to her filming of _Everlasting Youth_.

...

Ruto opened the door in front of Ren but closed it before Ren had a chance to enter. He tried to open it again, but it was still locked. He glared at Ruto who he knew had the keys.

"Let me inside," Ren growled.

"President Takarada wanted to inform you that you're too irate right now to talk to her. He requests for you to go find Yashiro-san and depart for your next job so both you and Mogami-san can calm down. He says that he will call you soon after he figures out the situation," Ruto said.

"I need to talk to her now before I never have a chance to do so again!" Ren replied.

"I suggest that you follow Takarada-san's advice willingly, or he has advised me to use force in the case you won't follow his orders. He has also told me that he will make sure you never see Mogami-san again if you defy him today." Ruto threatened making Ren pale. He reluctantly hung his head and walked away from the door towards the elevator. Once inside, he pressed the button for the floor of the LME manager offices and grit his teeth in anger. Damn that president!

...

It wasn't until 9 PM that night that Lory finally called Ren. He had been staring at his phone in between shots but it hadn't rung until he had gotten home. He had placed his phone on his nightstand while sitting with his head in his hands. Right when he saw Lory's caller ID, he hit the accept call button.

"How badly did I mess it up, Boss?" Ren immediately asked.

"I think Mogami-kun just needs time to cool down, Ren," Lory sighed.

"Do you know why she's so mad at me?" Ren asked. Lory mumbled something, but Ren didn't catch it.

"Could you repeat that, Boss?"

"She found out your secret," Lory repeated. Ren dropped his phone. When he realized what he had done, he picked it back up off the ground.

"She hates me then doesn't she? She never wants to see me again right?" Ren's voice cracked.

"Kyoko-chan thinks that you were lying to her to play around with her feelings. She doesn't hate you, but she doesn't want to see you since she's afraid that you'll laugh in her face."

"Why would she-"

"You and I both know that she always comes to these kinds of conclusions. If you've finally calmed down, I would suggest for you to confront her and tell her the truth!" Lory demanded.

"But what if she doesn't believe me, Boss? What if I lose her forever?" Ren felt his world crumbling. He couldn't imagine a life with Kyoko hating him.

"Then tell her the whole truth. Tell her you love her, and make sure she doesn't run away."

"Boss-"

"Look, Ren. I don't have any more advice that I can give you. Only you can fix this. You just have to talk to her," Lory cut him off and pressed the end call button.

...

For the first two days since the incident with Kyoko, Ren had called her once every hour and apologized profusely in a voicemail each time for deceiving her. He only stopped once he learned that her voicemail inbox was full. After that, he asked Yashiro to give her manager a message, but he never heard back.

She never responded to him, so on the third day he decided to confront Bo at TBM, but he had found out that she was filming for Everlasting Youth that day and had gotten a stand in.

On the fourth day, he entrusted the help of Yashiro to persuade Kanae to get Kyoko to meet at a certain spot so that he could get a chance to explain himself to her, but his plan was foiled when Kanae refused to help him. She even told Yashiro that she would never let Kyoko see Ren again if could help it! He tried to barge into the Love Me room to find Kyoko himself, but Chiori had stood guard at the door and didn't let him in.

When the fifth day came around, Ren asked Sawara if he could give a Love Me assignment to Kyoko, but Sawara had responded that he had been asked to not accept any Love Me jobs for Kyoko that involved Ren. When Ren got home that day, he drank himself to sleep at just how badly he had messed up. Kyoko had taken every precaution to never see him again, and with him going back to America in two days, he didn't know if he would ever be able to make up with her if he didn't apologize before he left. What was he going to do?

…

Sho sat back in his apartment and watched his television screen as Kyoko's Natsu bullied another girl on Box R. He took a sip from his beer can as he watched the drama unfold.

Even if he had accepted that what he did in the past was wrong and that he would let go of his delusions of being with Kyoko, it didn't hurt any less. He had had to summon up all the maturity he had when he pretty much handed her over to Ren, and he was really heartbroken. She wouldn't ever love him back again, and he had to get that through his head, but it would take time for him to heal. He wouldn't be able to forget his feelings for such a phenomenal girl so easily.

It had been more than a week since he had last told Ren to go after her though. He was starting to think that something had gone wrong. They should have already been brought back to the regular world by now. What was taking Ren so long?

Sho used his remote to turn the television off and got up. He wouldn't relive the next two years again just because Ren was too much of a coward to just kiss her! He had to do something! Sho grabbed his coat and ran out of his apartment, determined. If Ren was too much of a coward to kiss her, then he would just have to convince Kyoko to kiss Ren!

…

For the past few days, Kyoko had felt extremely guilty for how she was acting towards Ren. He had called her, sent her a message through her manager, and even tried to barge into the Love Me room, but she had kept on ignoring him.

She kept telling herself that he didn't deserve her guilt on account of how he had hurt her. He had lied to her and played with her feelings. But she kept wondering: what if she was wrong? What if Lory was right and Ren really did care about her? Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding and she was acting spiteful for nothing. Maybe she had to confront Ren once and for all to get the story straight.

Except she just didn't have the courage to confront him. If Ren really did say he never cared about her, her world would come crashing down on her and she would never love another again. She would lose that emotion forever! She couldn't let that happen. She had just gotten that emotion back after what Reino had done! She couldn't confront him herself, no, but she decided then that the next time Ren tried to talk to her, she would listen. At least if he said what she knew he would say, she would finally be able to move on instead of just avoiding him every day. She would be able to force herself to move on from her unrequited love.

* * *

 **I hope that you enjoyed chapter 20! It's crazy that it's already been 20 chapters. I never expected to make this fanfic that long, but I guess life is always unexpected. I have already written out the ending and everything, so I'm estimating that it will be about 2-3 chapters before the conclusion of this story! Thank you for reading this fanfic, and I would love if you would take the time to leave me a review!**


	21. 21-A Confession

**Glad to see that lots of you were okay with me torturing Ren for a bit last chapter. I'm excited for you to read this chapter, and I hope you enjoy! It's two days late, but hopefully you can forgive me for that!**

 **I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to write me a review on this chapter! Thanks for all of the reviews last chapter! It really makes me happy to have you guys so invested in my story!**

* * *

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Ren had resorted to enlisting the help of his manager to lock both him and Kyoko together in the Love Me room for an hour so that he could come clean about everything once and for all. Yashiro was not to let them out until exactly one hour had passed. They had even threatened Lory so he would help by saying that Ren would never come back from America if Lory didn't give the other two Love Me girls assignments that would keep them away from Kyoko.

Ren was already waiting in the LoveMe room for his love with Yashiro hiding in the hallway to lock them both in when Kyoko entered. He had been nervously pacing around for the past 20 minutes after clearing his schedule for that day except for the interview that night that would reveal his identity to the whole world. Ending Ren's apprehension, Kyoko opened the door to the Love Me room and strode over to her locker. That's when Ren came out of the shadows and confronted her.

"Kyoko-san," Ren greeted her. She widened her eyes at his sudden appearance and turned to leave the room until she found that the door was locked. She tried to force the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She was trapped. She knew she had told herself that she would listen to what Ren had to say the next time she saw him, but she didn't expect so see him so soon! She hadn't had the time to get ready mentally for it yet!

"I already told Yukihito to keep that door closed for an hour. I need to tell you something, but you've been ignoring me for days. Please, all I ask is for you to listen. Once I'm finished, I won't bother you ever again," Ren stared at her with puppy dog eyes, hoping that she would finally listen to him. Kyoko looked at him once then looked away, not budging from her spot as she accepted her fate. Ren knew that she would hear him anyways even if she wasn't looking at him, so he begun his story.

"Once upon a time there was a little boy born to Kuu and Juliena Hizuri in California. He grew up to love nature and animals and wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps as an actor. He was exposed to acting from a very young age and loved it from the first time he was cast in his first Hollywood production, but people would criticize the boy for earning the roles by nepotism and many directors would fire the boy for not acting up to par to his father. The boy started to get mad at the acting world for its high expectations of such a young kid just because of his famous dad, but he vowed one day to surpass his father in acting and earn a name for himself. One day when the boy was ten his father asked him to come along on a business trip with him to Kyoto, Japan, his hometown. The boy didn't initially want to go since Japan was such a small country, but his dad dragged him to his home country anyways. However, his dad was off shooting a movie most of the time, so this young boy went off to explore the nature around him," Ren explained.

"One day, he came upon a stream and found a cute little girl with pigtails crying because she would never be good enough for her mother. She took one look at him and assumed that he was a fairy prince based on his blonde hair and green eyes. The boy didn't have the heart to shatter her belief, so he let her believe in the lie. The two formed an extraordinary friendship for the week that the boy was in Japan with the girl introducing the boy to the hamburger kingdom and the boy telling her his deepest secrets in how he wanted to be able to fly out from under his father's wings and make a name for himself. Unfortunately, the boy had to go back to America and couldn't stay with the girl anymore. He thought that they wouldn't be able to meet again, so he left her with a blue stone, telling her that it would take away her sorrows when he wasn't there to do it. In reality though, it was a selfish move on his part so that she wouldn't forget about him," Ren continued. He looked to see Kyoko still staring at the ground, deep in thought.

"When he got back to America though, things only got worse. He started to develop a hatred for the world that was oppressing him and had unrealistic expectations of him. He started to take his anger out on others and went down a dark path where he got into fights almost everyday with people who would taunt him for his mixed blood. The boy was constantly fired which only fueled his anger more. He had a friend named Rick who tried to get him out of the darkness, but it was of no use. Rick was the boy's closest friend, but even Rick couldn't get the boy off his tragic path. One day the boy was chasing down another boy across a street to beat him up further and was almost hit by a car of gang members. But Rick had followed the boy and was instantly killed by the car that was aiming to hit the boy. Rick's girlfriend, Tina, cried over his bloody and mangled body and screamed at the boy that he was a murderer. And to this day that boy still doesn't forgive himself for Rick's death," Ren said as he grasped his wrist where Rick's watch was. This action didn't go unnoticed by Kyoko who looked up at his slight movement. When she met his eyes though, she immediately looked down again. Ren smiled painfully.

"The boy couldn't function after Rick's death, so one day Takarada Lory offered to take him to Japan to recreate himself. The boy would no longer be Hizuri Kuon. He would be the ideal, proper gentleman, Tsuruga Ren and would not acknowledge his parents until he had reached his dad's level. The boy worked hard to perfect the act of Tsuruga Ren and started to make a name for himself. And one day he walked into LME and saw the girl who he had met in Kyoto all those years ago. She didn't recognize him, and that made him glad since he didn't want to let her see who her fairy prince had really become: a broken man who didn't deserve to be her fairy prince anymore. After a misunderstanding in the beginning, he became friends with her though. Actually, that's not true. He fell in love with her from the time they had played together in Kyoto, but he hid his feelings from her in fear that she wouldn't accept them. The two had met in Guam one time before the boy formally introduced himself to her in LME as Tsuruga Ren, but at that time he looked like the fairy Corn to her. He knew that he loved her, so the boy made up some lie about a curse so that he could get the chance to steal a kiss from her," Ren rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Today I'm telling that girl all of the secrets I've kept from her because tonight I'm telling them to the whole world and I wanted her to know before then. I'm telling her because I'm leaving Japan for America with my parents for a while, and I'm not sure when I will see her again. I'm telling you, Kyoko, that I love you and that I've loved you ever since I was ten and you were six in that clearing back in Kyoto," Ren finished his tale, looking up to see Kyoko with tears in her eyes.

"That's not p-possible..." Kyoko faltered as the tears ran down her face.

"Kyoko-" Ren was interrupted as the door behind Kyoko opened to reveal his bespectacled manager. She looked at him once before running out of the door, breaking his heart.

…

Kyoko had run away from Ren after his confession. She wanted to believe what he had said, but what if it was all just another game? What if this was his last attempt at playing with her feelings and smashing them to the ground so that they would never resurface again?

As she ran into the LME lobby, she felt strong arms encircle her and keep her from running out into the busy Tokyo street. She looked up to see a pair of blue eyes peeking out from behind blonde hair looking at her with concern.

"Please let me go, Sho-kun," Kyoko pleaded, but he wouldn't let go no matter who much she struggled to escape. Instead he gripped her hand tightly so she wouldn't run away and dragged her through the LME hallways towards the stairwell so that he could talk to her privately.

"Sho-"

"Do you love Tsuruga?" Sho immediately asked.

"Sho-kun, please just let me go-"

"Answer my question, Kyoko, or I'll never let go of you," Sho responded.

"Sho-kun, please-"

Sho groaned in annoyance and pressed his lips to hers to silence her. When he pulled back and realized they were still in the same wish world, it hurt his heart. He had hoped beyond all belief that the kiss would have brought them back, but he had known all along that it wouldn't. Still, he had stupidly attempted it.

"I'm in love with you, so just tell me already so I can move the hell on with my life!" Sho demanded. She stiffened in his arms at his unexpected confession and couldn't help but mutter, "I'm sorry."

He let her go then, but she didn't run away. "I'm really sorry, Sho-kun," She apologized.

"Don't apologize. I don't deserve an apology. I just need you to follow your heart, or I won't be able to let you go. Are you seriously that dense to think that that actor doesn't love you back?" Sho frowned. Kyoko only looked dejectedly at the floor in response.

"He doesn't love me-"

"Like hell he doesn't!"

"He told me he loved me, but I know that it's all a lie! He just wants to see me accept the lie and laugh at my ignorance!" Kyoko responded, anger coursing through her veins.

"You and I both know that he wouldn't do that to you," Sho frowned.

"You're just saying that because you won't let yourself believe in love after what Reino did to you. But don't let what he did affect your entire future! You need to go up to Tsuruga and confess your feelings! Go up to that actor and realize that you've both been idiots this whole time! You both love each other! Don't let that bastard Reino keep you from uniting with your true love! If you really believe that Tsuruga would do that to you, you don't deserve to love him and he was an idiot for falling in love with you!" Sho yelled at her.

"Don't say that about Ren-san!" Kyoko shouted back. Sho felt his lips twitch upwards as he hit a nerve in her. So she would get riled up for his sake even when she acted like she was mad at him?

"I thought that he was only a no-talent pretty boy who only got to where he's at based on his pinhead face. It was probably easy for him to get to the top by flashing that smile to producers that were charmed only by his looks," Sho smirked.

"Ren's the best actor that the world has ever known! Sure he's handsome, but he didn't use that asset to climb up to the top of the showbiz world! He struggled just like everyone else, and he deserves to be up there!" Kyoko fought back.

"He has a nasty attitude though, right? He's a horrible human being. You said so yourself," Sho egged her on.

"He's the most polite and kindest person I've ever met! He never gets impatient with others and always pushes them to reach for the best. He's encouraging and would never step on someone else for his own advantage..." Kyoko countered, her thoughts finally clicking into place.

"And you love him with all your heart?" Sho yelled back.

"Of course I'm in love with him! Haven't we already established that?" Kyoko fumed.

"Even after all that he's done to you?"

Kyoko thought about Ren. Flashes of Corn as children and Ren when they had met again in LME popped into her head. As he smiled at her in her memories, she tried to see if there was any insincerity behind his smile, but she couldn't find any. She thought about what Reino had told her about Ren, and she finally realized that she had been an idiot this entire time. How could she have believed Reino even for one second?! She knew who Ren was! She knew who Corn was! She knew that they would never hurt her like Reino said!

"H-he hasn't done anything... I've just been blinded by a lie this whole time. I'm such a horrible person! I ignored him for so long and ran out after he got the courage to confess to me just because of the lie that the beagle made up!"

"So you love him, and he loves you back, but you won't tell him?"

Kyoko felt herself heat up as a blush came over her face.

"Wow. Tsuruga's such a dope that the girl who he shares mutual feelings for won't even tell him!" Sho grinned.

"Who says that I won't tell him? I'll tell him right now!" Kyoko shouted and dragged Sho to the Love Me room to see Ren. However, when they got there, they were met with an empty room.

* * *

 **And there's the familiar Kyoko and Sho banter that we're used to! At least here Sho was using it for Kyoko's benefit instead of acting upon his own selfish desires! I hope that you liked the chapter!**

 **Why are we tortured yet again by an 18-page Skip Beat! chapter!? And to top it all off, we haven't seen Ren for months and the photo of Sho and Kyoko hasn't been mentioned since then! I just want to see Kyoko and Ren's reunion ;(. The audition is finally over, but this chapter with lots of Kanae-related issues makes me scared that the next few chapters are just going to be about Kyoko trying to comfort Kanae or something. It's probably going to be another couple of months before we see our OTP again. *sigh***


	22. 22-Never Again Will I Let You Go

**I'm sorry for the late chapter again! It's short compared to the regular length of my chapters, so I'm sorry, but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless!**

* * *

"Where is he?" Sho asked as he looked into the open room past Kyoko who was just looking at the empty space in despair.

"No…"

"What is it, Kyoko?"

"He's going to reveal his identity to the world and leave for America before I can tell him…" Kyoko quavered as she melted to the floor.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sho retorted.

"Which studio is he at?! I need to find him before he leaves!" Kyoko proclaimed, running out of the room with Sho following close behind her. They entered the elevator and only got out when they reached the floor of Lory's office. Ruto stood standing outside of the door with a red army jacket and white tights on, and upon seeing Kyoko, opened the door for the pair. Kyoko immediately ran up to Lory who was dressed like the sugar plum fairy. It seemed as if he had stolen the costume out of their local production of _The Nutcracker_ since the dress was a sparkling display of orchid and pink fabric styled into tutu. Above the tutu lay a beautiful orchid bodice with rhinestones meticulously placed near the collar. Sho snorted at his costume, but Kyoko didn't seem to notice Lory's crazy outfit with the more urgent matter in her head giving her no time to drawl on his choice of apparel that day.

"Takarada-sama! Please! I need to know what show Kuon is announcing his identity on! I need to talk to him before he leaves for America!" Kyoko sank into a dogeza in front of her boss.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?!" Sho shouted in annoyance at being ignored by Kyoko ever since they got back to the empty Love Me room.

"I'm sorry, Mogami-kun, but I'm afraid you're too late. Kuon revealed his identity to Japan about 20 minutes ago," Lory frowned as he motioned for Ruto to roll out a television and turn it on. Kyoko and Sho paled as they read the headlines of every news channel that Ruto flipped through.

 _Tsuruga Ren reveals secret identity! Hizuri Kuon finally reappears! Kuon leaving with his parents for America Narita Airport live!_

Sho finally understood what the situation was, and he was undoubtedly surprised. Even Sho knew who Hizuri Kuu was as one of the most famous actors ever in Japan, and Ren being Kuu's son was a huge shock to him.

"I'm too late…" Kyoko spoke as tears flowed down her face.

"I've messed up my chances with him. He confessed to me today, but I just ran away. Now that I want to tell him of my feelings, I might never see him again since he's going to America," Kyoko began to sob. Sho grit his teeth and pulled her up off the ground.

"Aw, hell. Come with me. I'm getting you to that airport," Sho said as he pulled her out of Lory's office before Lory could say anything in reply. After they left however, Lory exploded in joy. Finally! Those two lovebirds would finally kiss and bring them all back to the real world! He had begun to think that it would be another few years before this happened, but he was overjoyed that the two had exceeded his expectations.

"See? I told you that all they needed was time," Mina smirked as she flew out from under Lory's desk.

"I guess I should listen to you more often," Lory chuckled.

...

Sho dragged Kyoko to the parking lot where his manager was waiting in a car and told her to rush to the airport. When she didn't instantly obey his orders, he yelled for her to start the car. Immediately, she sped the car towards the airport, ignoring the speed limit as she heard in her charge's voice a desperation that she had never heard before.

"Sho-kun! Tell her to slow down! We're going too fast!" Kyoko squeaked as the car narrowly missed clipping another car as they made a turn.

"You better go up to that bastard and kiss him so passionately that he never leaves you again!" Sho yelled back. Kyoko blushed in response.

Unfortunately for the pair, luck was against them as the way to Narita airport was blocked up by fans trying to see Kuon off as well. The traffic jam wouldn't be moving forward anytime soon. Sho cursed at the unsuspected difficulty in his plan, but Kyoko looked around and spotted a bike on top of a car. She quickly opened her car door and turned towards Sho as she leapt out.

"Thank you for everything, Sho," she kissed him on the cheek before bolting out of the car and demanding for the bike with a little help from Mio. As she sped off towards the airport on the bicycle, Sho looked at her retreating form and blushed as he touched the spot where she had kissed him. That was the first time she had ever given him a kiss, even if it was on the cheek. However, Sho schooled his expression into a scowl as he caught his manager smirking at him.

"That's the most mature thing I've ever seen you do, Sho. I'm proud of you," Shoko smiled but only got a grumble of turning back towards Tokyo in response.

…

When Kyoko reached the airport, she dropped her bicycle on the sidewalk and ran inside, immediately running to look at the departure schedule for Ren's gate number. She then looked around and saw a crowd of people hassling security to let them through. She tried to summon up her grudges and became impatient when they didn't immediately come to her side. She thought about how Reino was probably keeping them captive and making it harder for her to get to Ren and about how furious she would be with herself if she never got the chance to tell Ren that she loved him. This made her level of rage intensify to a level that it had never reached before.

On the other side of town, Reino kept poking one of Kyoko's grudges in the head, but he leapt back in surprise when all of the grudges he had held captive broke free of their chains and flew out of his apartment. He widened his eyes in surprise before turning on the television and seeing the news of Ren's real identity. Immediately, he smirked and grabbed his coat. Kyoko probably needed comforting now that she knew for sure that Ren had been lying to her, and who better to comfort her than himself? The arrogant singer confidently strode out of his apartment, having no clue how wrong he was.

...

Kyoko grinned as she felt her grudges take her side once more. She gathered her grudges and sent them out in full force at security and at Ren's fans who collectively choked as the grudges wrapped around their necks. While they were distracted, Kyoko slipped past security and ran towards the gates. Taking one last look at the departures board to make sure she knew which gate he was leaving from, Kyoko bolted towards gate G8. As she ran, passerby snapped pictures as they realized the actress Kyoko was running through the airport looking like a mess, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting to Ren before he left!

Kyoko finally arrived at his gate and gasped when she saw that the passengers were boarding. There was a huge media frenzy in front of her who were there to see Kuon off, but she summoned her demons again and the paparazzi all cleared the path for her as they were terrified from her grudges whispering curses in their ears if they didn't let Kyoko through. She felt her heart drop as Kuon approached the front of the line, Julie and Kuu in front of him getting their boarding passes scanned already. No. He couldn't leave!

"CORN! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Kyoko screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone around Kyoko turned towards her to see the source of the sudden outburst including Kuon whose eyes met hers in surprise. Kyoko ran up to him and grabbed onto his shirt as she wept into his chest.

"Please don't leave! You left me when we were kids, and I couldn't do anything about it, but now I'm begging for you not to leave me again! I just found my fairy prince again, and I won't let him go ever again! I just figured out that I've been in love with you this whole time, and I was a horrible person for ignoring you for so long and running away when you confessed! You told me you loved me, so please stay because I love you too, Corn!" Kyoko cried against his chest.

Before Kuon could say anything in response, Kyoko grabbed his face and closed the distance between their lips. He went wide-eyed for a second before melting into the kiss and fluttering his eyelids shut. Kuon moved his hands down her smooth sides and pressed them to her hips, drawing her closer to him. Kyoko entangled her fingers in his silky hair, enjoying the soft feel of it. Both were swept into their own world together as they finally expressed their feelings for each other through the locking of their lips. Both hungrily kissed each other, enjoying the warm rapture of each other's lips. The two only pulled back when both were gasping for air. Kyoko beamed at Kuon after their kiss, but he struggled to keep balance as he felt his vision growing dark. He grasped his head in his hands as it felt like it was pounding so much that it would explode. Soon he collapsed to the floor and saw Kyoko's concerned face above his as his vision became blurred.

"Kuon! What's wrong?!"

He felt the world fading rapidly. "KUON!" He heard Kyoko's voice cry out repeatedly as he drifted out of consciousness.

Then the world around him went black.

* * *

 **Leave it to Guest to always guess what I'll do the next chapter! Your guess was actually spot-on. When I read your comment, I wondered if I should rewrite to make it less cliche, but I decided not to. I know this chapter was cliche, but sometimes that's all you want after lots of Ren and Kyoko angst. I hope you all enjoyed, and I would love if you could leave a review if you have the time! Thanks for reading, and I hope you tune in with me next week for the final chapter!**

 **It took me a long time to write that kissing scene, and I'm afraid that I'm not really used to writing them yet. I hope that it was acceptable for how long I made you guys wait for it!**


	23. 23-Epilogue

**Here we are at the final chapter. Thank you for the wonderful reviews on last chapter! I thoroughly enjoyed reading every last one of them :). I'm sorry that I always update late and this chapter is almost a week late. I wanted to make sure I wrapped up this story in the right way and changed things around multiple times, so I hope that my final version of this chapter gives a satisfactory end to this story. I hope you enjoy the last chapter of _Timeless Affections_!**

* * *

When Kuon was able to partially open his eyes and tried to make sense of his surroundings, he realized that he didn't wake up on the floor of the Narita airport or even on his bed in his Tokyo apartment. He felt a warmth under his arms and turned to the side to see what it was. Right next to him, Kyoko was sleeping peacefully with a cute little smile on her face. He watched with bated breath as her eyelids slowly fluttered open, and Kuon's heart skipped a beat at the love she expressed for him in a simple gaze. He was so caught up in her expression that he didn't know how long he had been staring at her.

"Is there something wrong, Corn?" Kyoko asked groggily.

"Nothing in the world," Kuon replied, pressing a soft kiss to her temple as she closed her eyes again in euphoria at having requited love from her fairy prince.

…

Sho woke up on the couch of Shoko's apartment as she started to nag him about getting to an interview that morning. He thought back to the wish he had made the last night and the wild experience he had just been through. Had it all really been just a dream?

As Sho stood up however, he began to realize that even if it had all been a dream, he had learned something important from the experience. He needed to apologize to Kyoko for all of the horrible things he did in his past. He knew now that a friendship with her was way better than arguing with her every time he saw her. It had been his mistake to hurt her heart when they were sixteen-year-olds, and it was just too bad that it took him this long to realize that. She wasn't his anymore, and he had to accept that and move on with his life like she did with hers. And the only way to do that was to set the record between them straight once and for all.

…

As Reino woke up from his personal coffin, he cursed in anger as he realized his captive grudge Kyokos were gone, and that he was back in the normal world. He attempted to brew a curse to get back to that heavenly world, but his attempts were futile. After his failure, Reino tried to corner Kyoko while she was on her honeymoon with Kuon and attempted to force himself upon her to get her to finally consider him as a potential love interest, but Kuon had defended her before Reino had been able to even touch her. It was lucky that Kyoko stopped Kuon before he killed the man who tried to force himself on his wife.

A few weeks later, Reino got a letter in the mail detailing the specifics for a restraining order filed against him by Kyoko and Kuon Hizuri.

* * *

 **Two months later…**

Ren, who was now sporting his natural blonde hair and emerald eyes after revealing his identity as Kuon to Japan. Kyoko walked through TBM studios hand-in-hand with her gorgeous husband for an interview together. Both were consummate professionals and had arrived earlier than necessary for their respective interviews. This show was doing a special segment on the top ten idols in Japan and had put Kuon as the number one male idol while Kyoko was the number one female idol. As they walked through the halls towards their dressing rooms however, they were stopped by Sho, the 2nd best male idol. His newest album had been released a few weeks prior, and its heartfelt lyrics and amazing vocals had skyrocketed Sho's popularity. His fame had surpassed just about every other male idol in Japan, all except Kuon.

"Could I speak to you privately, Kyoko?" Sho asked with begging eyes. He had not had the chance to see her since that crazy dream, and he was determined to set things straight right here and right now. He turned to Kuon, who he had expected to glare at him, but Kuon just looked at Sho with a knowing look in his eyes. That look made Sho realize that maybe his far-fetched dream wasn't a dream at all.

"I think you should hear out what Fuwa-san has to say, Kyoko. I'll be over here if he tries anything," Kuon whispered to his love. She widened her eyes in surprise at his request and reluctantly let go of his hand to follow Sho to a corner away from any extra ears. If Kuon felt like it was okay, then she would trust his judgement. Anyways, she didn't think that Sho would attack her like Reino did. He was a popular male idol, and it wouldn't look good on headlines if Fuwa Sho attempted to seduce Hizuri Kuon's wife only a few weeks after Reino had tried. Vie Ghoul's popularity had plummeted after Reino's attack, and Kyoko knew that Sho wouldn't risk his own demise for her. He had never sacrificed anything for her.

"Why did you call me here, Sho?" Kyoko asked once they were out of earshot of any others.

"Look, I know I should have done this earlier, but I was too much of an immature idiot. I realize now that I never apologized for hurting you those years before. I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for that."

"What kind of trick are you trying to pull-"

"I'm not trying to trick you or anything. It's just that I've only recently realized how wrong it was of me to have done those things to you before. I never apologized to you, and I want to set things right because I love you, Kyoko. I never should have abused your kindness, and I was a damn fool for not realizing the sacrifices you took for my dream of becoming a star in Tokyo," Sho confessed.

"Sho. I'm not the girl blinded by love that you asked to come with you to Tokyo those years ago," Kyoko replied softly.

"I know. I just wanted to tell you that I'll always love you, but I wish you happiness in your marriage. I'm truly happy for you and Hizuri-san. You deserve to be happy with him. It's time for me to move on, and now I think I can. I just confessed to you, and you rejected me. Now I know for sure that I have no chance. You're not mine anymore," Sho smiled painfully. Kyoko opened her mouth to say something but couldn't find the right words to say.

"What I really want is for us to be friends again. I really miss hanging out with you, and I just want to be able to meet with you on good terms again. Forget romantic love. I just want to be able to laugh and talk together again without fighting every time we meet," Sho said.

"Why now, though?" Kyoko asked.

"I guess I've just finally matured enough to realize my mistakes in the past. You were always there for me, but I just never appreciated you enough. I never made you happy. That's why all I want now is for you to find your happiness. I know it's not with me, and I can accept that now. All I ask for is for us to stop fighting every time we meet. It gets pretty stale after a while," Sho shot her a grin. She gave him a small smile in reply.

"You're apologizing sincerely, so I'll forgive you. It was in the past, and it actually got me to where I am today with my career and husband. I haven't felt any animosity towards you in a long time. I guess I had actually forgiven you a while ago when I stopped thinking of getting revenge on you for what you did to me. I think I would really like it if we could be friends again," Kyoko giggled. She extended a hand out towards Sho who graciously shook it.

"Friends?" Sho asked, making sure he had heard her correctly.

"Friends," Kyoko repeated. She turned back to see her husband who smiled at her after seeing her reconciliation with Sho.

"Go on. I think your husband is feeling a little lonely over there," Sho smiled. She turned to say goodbye to him before running over to Kuon who gave her a sweet greeting kiss as she returned to his side. Sho turned away from the scene and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Sure it would hurt for a while, but he would be able to move on from Kyoko eventually. He had lost her, and he had accepted his defeat already. It had been his mistake to throw her away for his fame, and he would forever regret it, but he was happy for her. She finally had the life she deserved, and he couldn't help but be glad for her.

…

Lory watched from a television in his study as his favorite two actors were interviewed together on a special segment for the top ten celebrities in Japan. He felt a small smile creep up his lips as their interview ended and Sho passed them by for his own interview. Sho gave the pair a small smile that they both reciprocated, and Lory knew for a fact that all of their smiles were genuine.

"Another mission done! That was a long one! And it wasn't even because of Sho! We should have never put our faith in Kyoko and Kuon for breaking the spell!" Mina sighed.

"Well at least this mission wasn't as long as that time when we got Kyoko and Kuon together," Lory grinned.

"You mean when _I_ got them together? _You_ just sat back and watched!" Mina replied. Lory chuckled.

"Hey, do you think their children will be as dense as they were?"

"There's no way that anyone can top _those two_. They were the senior members of the Love Me division after all," Mina giggled.

"I agree. Kyoko and Kuon were and always will be the densest couple in existence."

* * *

 **Thank you for all of your continued support throughout this whole story! I can't believe I started writing it the end of last summer and that it's continued until now. It's sad to part with _Timeless Affections_ since this is the longest story I've ever written on this website, but I guess all good things come to an end. Thank you for reading till the end. I want to thank all of you who followed, favorited and especially those who reviewed this story. I never imagined that I would write a fanfic this long, but your guys' support and interest in my story kept me going. **

**I've been debating for a while if I wanted to write a prequel to this story about Lory and Mina scheming to get Kyoko and Kuon together. If you guys would be interested in that, I guess leave me a review so I can see if you guys want one or not!**

 **This is the end of _Timeless Affections_! Thanks for reading! **

**-Guinea**


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